Finding Out
by starfishie
Summary: Left in the hands of a strange girl named Annabeth, the book The Son of Neptune is brought on an adventure, causing hilarity and cliffhangers as its pages are turned. A "reading the books" story with Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Leo, Thalia, Nico, Sally, and Paul. Disclaimer: the book The Son of Neptune and the characters are not mine. They belong to the wonderful Rick Riordon.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! So if you remember reading this, it's because I had already posted this on my other account, but it got deleted, so here I am! I hope you enjoy, whether you've already read this or not!**

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Annabeth's PoV

I woke up early, as always, and stretched. _Another stressful day that I have to live without him_, I thought as I walked out of my cabin. Percy has been missing for around eight months now and I'm completely and utterly miserable. Sure I have the best friends ever comforting me and reassuring me that he's okay, but that's just not enough. The only way that I could possibly get less depressed is to have his personal guarantee that he's unharmed.

I was pulled from my thoughts as a familiar boy dressed in all black ran past me followed by an older black-haired girl wearing a silver jacket (even though it was the middle of summer).

"Thalia?" I asked, a little confused.

She turned around to look at me, but didn't stop running, which resulted in her tripping over a rock and face planting in the grass.

"Annabeth! I almost had him! I could've caught him!" She yelled at me angrily. She then noticed my sad facial expression and apologized. "Oh, um, sorry."

"It's okay. What are you doing here and why are you chasing Nico?" I questioned. She was supposed to be with her hunters, not here.

Nico walked nonchalantly out from behind one of the cabins. "Well, you see, Annie dear, I simply came to check up on you and spend some time with you and apparently my most dearest cousin," Thalia glared at him, "seems to have the same idea."

"_I_ had the same idea? _I_ was already here when _you_ landed on me!"

"I didn't mean to! You just happened to be standing in the exact spot that I fell!"

"Guys! Stop argu-ow!" I yelled, not wanting a full on war, when someone hit me on the head, "Why did you hit me?"

"Um, Annabeth? Nobody hit you." Thalia said as she bent down to retrieve what had fallen on me. "A book?"

"What the…" Under normal circumstances I would've been cool with books falling from the sky, but the look on Thalia's face displayed that she was beyond shocked. I even saw a tear fall down her face. This can't be good.

She showed me the cover. I gasped. On it were the words: The Son of Neptune. Could it be?

"Look there's a note." Nico said as he reached for the yellow sticky note that floated to the ground. "It says:

_Dear Annabeth, _

_I know how worried you are of Percy Jackson and I would like to ease the worry some. Please gather Thalia, Nico, Jason, Leo, and Piper, and bring them to Mr. and Mrs. Jackson-Blofis' house ASAP (I trust you know how to get there). The book will inform you of all the adventures Percy has gone on in the months he has been missing. _

_~A friend_"

At this point I was crying wholeheartedly. I finally got to know where my boyfriend has been for eight months!

"Come on! Lets go!" I said, basically dragging Thalia and Nico, who were trying to see if I was okay, to find Jason, Leo, and Piper.

After finding them and explaining the situation, Nico was chosen (and by chosen I mean threatened by Thalia) to shadow travel us there.

I think I blacked out for a second because the next thing I know I'm falling from a ceiling in the middle of the Jackson-Blofis family living room.

"Annabeth? Nico? Thalia? What's wrong? What are you guys doing here?" Sally asked.

"Um, Sally, Paul, this is Jason, Piper, and Leo." I said gesturing to said demigods.

They said hello and shook hands. Jason seemed a little reluctant though, but it was probably nothing.

"Also, there's, um, this book… about… Percy…" My voice cracked when I said his name. "It's called **The Son of Neptune **and there's a note saying that if we read it, we'll find out about where he's been for the past eight months."

She looked on the verge of tears, but Paul comforted her. "Alright you guys, lets just pull up a couple of chairs and I'll get us all some breakfast. Who would like to read first?"

My immediate response was: "I would."

I flipped to the first page and began.


	2. Chapter 2-PERCY

Annabeth's Pov

**Chapter 1- Percy**

**The snake-hared ladies were starting to annoy Percy.**

"Medusa?" Paul asks.

"I don't think so," I reason. "It says lad_ies_, with an S, so there's more than one. Hmm…" What could they be?

"Thank you so very much for that deductive reasoning, Captain Obvious." Leo says in his most sophisticated tone.

"You're so very welcome, Sergeant Sarcasm." I retort.

"Oohh, Leo, you just got burned!"

**They should have died three days ago when he dropped a crate of bowling balls on them at the Napa Bargain Mart.**

"Napa? Why the Hades is he all the way in California!"

"The Roman camp." Jason explained softly.

**They should have died two days ago when he ran over them with a police car in Martinez. They ****_definitely_**** should have died this morning when he cut off their heads in Tilden Park.**

"Why aren't they dying?" All of the demigods, except me, asked at the same time.

"I… I don't know." I hate not knowing. It's the worst thing ever next to those hairy, eight-legged fiends known as spiders.

Thalia gasped and feigned shock. "Who are you and what have you done with my Annabeth?"

"_Your_ Annabeth? Last time I checked I didn't belong to anybody, especially a Pinecone Face like you."

**No matter how many times Percy killed them and watched them crumble to powder, they just kept reforming like large evil dust bunnies.**

Everyone burst out laughing. My Seaweed Brain sure does know how to make a situation less tense.

"Large evil dust bunnies?" Leo asked. "I love this guy!" Oh no. Not another Percy Jackson fan club member.

**He couldn't even seem to outrun them.**

**He reached the top of the hill and caught his breath. How long since he last killed him? Maybe two hours. They never seemed to stay dead longer than that.**

"Well, that's not good." Nico said thoughtfully. I mean like really? No dip Nico!

Thalia looked annoyed. "Gee, you think!"

**The past few days, he'd hardly slept. He'd eaten whatever he could scrounge-vending machine gummi bears, stale bagels, even a Jack in the Crack burrito, which was his new personal low. His clothes were torn, burned, and splattered with monster slime.**

"He sounds so totally drop dead gorgeous, Annabeth!" Jason said in a high-pitch, girly voice.

I wonder if Jason could get jealous of Percy. I can see why, but I just hope it doesn't come to that.

**He'd only survived this long because the two snake-haired ladies-****_gorgons_****, they called themselves-**

"Gorgons!" I cried out. Oops. I shouldn't have said that.

"No dip, Sherlock! Weren't you listening?"

"Of course I was listening, Thalia. I'm the one reading!"

"You just got owned!"

**Couldn't seem to kill him either.**

"Huh?" Jason, Piper, Leo, and Mr. Blofis asked.

"If you guys will actually let me read, I'm sure it'll be explained."

**Their claws didn't cut his skin. Their teeth broke whenever they tried to bite him. But Percy couldn't keep going much longer. Soon he'd collapse from exhaustion, and then-as hard as he was to kill, he was pretty sure the gorgons would find a way.**

My eyes stung. Thalia and Sally both put a hand on my shoulders, but they seemed like they were about to cry as well.

**Where to run?**

**He scanned his surroundings. Under different circumstances, he might've enjoyed the view. To his left, golden hills rolled inland, dotted with lakes, woods, and a few herds of cows.**

I glared at nothing in particular at this. I hate cows.

**To his right, the flatlands of Berkeley and Oakland marched west-a vast checkerboard of neighborhoods, with several million people who probably did not want their morning interrupted by two monsters and a filthy demigod.**

**Farther west, San Francisco Bay glittered under a silvery haze. Past that, a wall of fog had swallowed most of San Francisco, leaving just the tops of skyscrapers and the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge.**

**A vague sadness weighed on Percy's chest. Something told him he'd been to San Francisco before.**

"You have." Everyone except the three new demigods said.

**The city had some connection to Annabeth-the only person he could remember from his past.**

I could feel the tears again. Right before I could let one fall, Piper squealed. "Oh… My… Gods! That's is _the_ sweetest thing _ever_!"

Leo snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Piper, Piper, we losing you. Come on, stay with me."

"Piper you're going to the dark side!" Nico flung his hands in the air.

"Guys, jeez, calm down. I wouldn't be a true daughter of Aphrodite if I didn't have my moments every now and then. And Nico, I don't think this would be classified as the light side seeing as you're here."

Nico pouted and Piper playfully punched him in the arm.

**His memory of her was frustratingly dim. The wolf had promised he would see her again and regain his memory-****_if_**** he succeeded in his journey.**

**Should he try to cross the bay?**

"Yes!" Everyone yelled while Jason and I yelled: "No!"

We gave each other weird looks, then Jason explained: "He's so close to camp! If he crosses the bay, he has to cross the entire U.S. in order to get the camp."

"True, but it will take too long and he'd have to cross the entire city."

**It was tempting. He could feel the power of the ocean just over the horizon. Water always revived him. Saltwater was the best.**

"No duh, Seaweed Brain."

**He'd discovered that two days ago when he had strangled a sea monster in the Carquinez Strait.**

"That's so flippin' awesome! Jason, dude, we should do that sometime!"

"Um, no thanks, Leo."

"Dang it."

**If he could reach the bay, he might be able to make a last stand. Maybe he could even drown the gorgons. But the shore was at least two miles away. He'd have to cross the entire city.**

Thalia giggled. "Um, Annabeth? You think like Kelp Head."

**He hesitated for another reason. The she-wolf Lupa had taught him to sharpen his senses-to trust the instincts that had been guiding him south.**

"He sure does have good instincts." Sally said.

"_Good_ instincts? Percy has _the best_ instincts ever!"

**His homing radar was tingling like crazy now. The end of his journey was close-almost right under his feet. But how could that be? There was nothing on the hilltop.**

Jason looked puzzled. Then something seemed to click in his head. "Not _on_ the hilltop, but _under_ the hilltop!"

"Is wittle Yayson getting some of his memowies back?" Leo asked mockingly.

"Shut up, Valdez."

**The wind changed. Percy caught the sour scent of reptile. A hundred yards down the slope, something rustled through the woods-snapping branches, crunching leaves, hissing.**

**Gorgons.**

"Oh no." Both mine and Sally's heads were in our hands.

**For the millionth time, Percy wished their noses weren't so good. They had always said they could ****_smell_**** him because he was a demigod-the half-blood son of some old Roman god.**

"Not Roman…"

**Percy had tried rolling in mud, splashing through creeks, even keeping air-freshener sticks in his pockets so he'd have that new car smell; but apparently demigod stick is hard to mask.**

**He scrambled to the west side of the summit. It was too steep to descend. The slope plummeted eighty feet, straight to the roof of an apartment complex built into the hillside. Fifty feet below that, a highway emerged from the hill's base and wound its way toward Berkeley.**

**Great. No way off the hill. He'd managed to get himself cornered.**

"Of course he did. That Kelp Head has the worst luck."

**He stared at the stream of cars flowing west toward San Francisco and wished he were in one of them. Then he realized the highway must cut through the hill. There must be a tunnel… right under his feel.**

Jason threw his hands into the air. "That's what I've been saying!"

**His internal radar went nuts.**

"Nuts and berries." Thalia said. I didn't get it, but Nico started cracking up.

**He ****_was_**** in the right place, just too high up. He had to check out that tunnel. He needed a way to get down to the highway-fast.**

**He slung off his backpack. He'd managed to grab a lot of supplies at the Napa Bargain Mart: a portable GPS, duct tape, lighter, lighter, superglue, water bottle, camping roll, a Comfy Panda Pillow Pet (as seen on TV), and a Swiss army knife-pretty much every tool a modern demigod could want. But he had nothing that would serve as a parachute or a sled.**

"Figures. Every time we need something we manage to not have it."

**That left him two options; jump eighty feet to his death, or stand and fight. Both options sounded pretty bad.**

**He cursed and pulled his pen from his pocket.**

"Um, Annabeth? Did you just say pen? What the Hades is that going to do?" Leo asked.

"Oh, Leo, don't go dissing on that pen. It's saved us more times than I can count."

**The pen didn't look like much, just a regular cheap ballpoint, but when Percy uncapped it, it grew into a glowing bronze sword. The blade balanced perfectly. The leather grip fit is hand like it had been custom designed for him. Etched along the guard was an Ancient Greek word Percy somehow understood: ****_Anaklusmos_****-Riptide.**

By now, everyone that didn't know about his sword was gaping at the book.

"That's so friggin' awesome!" Leo shouted. "I want one!"

**He'd woken up with his sword his first night at the Wolf House- two months ago?**

My mouth hung open."_Two months ago_? He woke up _two months ago_!" I probably looked like I was going to explode because everyone was trying to calm me down, but I just couldn't believe it. He had been sleeping for _six months_!

I finally got my bearings and continued reading.

**More? He'd lost track. He'd found himself in the courtyard of a burned-out mansion in the middle of the woods, wearing shorts, an orange T-shirt, and a leather necklace with a bunch of strange clay beads. Riptide had been in his hand, but Percy had had no idea how he'd gotten there, and only the vaguest idea who he was. He'd been barefoot, freezing, and confused. And then the wolfs came…**

**Right next to him, a familiar voice jolted him back to the present: "There you are!"**

**Percy stumbled away from the gorgon, almost falling off the edge of the hill.**

**It was the smiley one-Beano.**

"Beano? Are you kidding me Seaweed Brain? I highly doubt her name's Beano." I said shaking my head.

**Okay, her name wasn't really Beano. As near as Percy could figure, he was dyslexic, because words got twisted around when he tried to read. The first time he'd seen the gorgon, posing as a Bargain Mart greeter with a big green button that read: ****_Welcome! My name is STHENO_****, he'd thought it said BEANO.**

**She was still wearing her green Bargain Mart employee vest over a flower print dress. If you looked just at her body, you might think she was somebody's dumpy old grandmother-until you looked down and realized he had rooster feet. Or you looked up and saw her bronze boar tusks sticking out of the corners of her mouth. Her eyes glowed red, and her hair was a writhing nest of bright green snakes. **

**The most horrible thing about her?**

"She gets worse?" Nico wondered. For a kid who lives part-time in the Underworld **(A/N haha oxymorons!) **he looked disgusted.

**She was still holding her big silver platter of free samples: Crispy Cheese 'n' Wieners. Her platter was dented from all the times Percy had killed her, but those little samples looked perfectly fine. Stheno just kept toting them across California so she could offer Percy a snack before she killed him. Percy didn't know why she kept doing that, but if he ever needed a suit of armor, he was going to make it out of Crispy Cheese 'n' Wieners. They were indestructible.**

"Brilliant idea new friend! I shall get to work immediately on the designs!" Leo said in a deep voice.

**"Try one?" Stheno offered.**

**Percy fended her off with his sword. "Where's your sister?"**

**"Oh, put the sword away." Stheno chided. "You know by now that even Celestial bronze cant kill us for long. Have a Cheese 'n' Weiner! They're on sale this week, and I'd hate to kill you on an empty stomach."**

"Yeah, I'm sure she'd just loathe it." Thalia mutters sarcastically.

"You know Thalia, for a best friend you sure aren't helping the situation." I said. She looked mad at herself, but immediately apologized.

**"Stheno!" The second gorgon appeared on Percy's right so fast, he didn't have time to react. Fortunately she was too busy glaring at her sister to pay him much attention. "I told you to sneak up on him and kill him!"**

**Stheno's smile wavered. "But, Euryale…" She said the name so it rhymed with ****_Muriel._**** "Can't I give him a sample first?"**

"What is with this lady, I mean, like, seriously?" I thought about it for a second. Those samples must be… poisoned! That's it!

**"No, you imbecile!" Euryale turned toward Percy and bared her fangs.**

**Except for her hair, which was a nest of coral snakes instead of green vipers, she looks exactly like her sister. Her Bargain Mart vest, her flowery dress, even her tusks were decorated with 50% off stickers. Her name badge read: ****_Hello! My name is DIE, DEMIGOD SCUM_****!**

"Subtle much." I said and we all tried to contain our laughter.

**"You've led us on quite a chase, Percy Jackson," Euryale said. "But now you're trapped, and we'll have our revenge!"**

**"The Cheese 'n' Wieners are only $2.99," Stheno added helpfully. "Grocery department, aisle three." Eurylae snarled. "Stheno, the Bargain Mart was a ****_front_****! You're going native! Now, put down that ridiculous tray and help me kill this demigod. Or have you forgotten that he's the one who vaporized Medusa?"**

Paul, Jason, Leo, and Piper gawked at the book. "What?"

I laughed. "Yep. He sliced her head clean off at the age of twelve." If their mouths could open any further, they did.

"Wasn't Perseus the original one to kill her?" Paul asked. "That's so… Awesome!"

"My thoughts exactly."

**Percy stepped back. Six more inches, and he'd he tumbling through thin air. "Look ladies, we've been over this. I don't ****_remember_**** killing Medusa. I don't remember anything! Can't we just call a truce and talk about your weekly specials?'**

"Is he insane?" Piper wondered.

"I ask that all the time." Thalia said shaking her head.

**Stheno gave her sister a pouty look, which was hard to do with giant broze tusks. "Can we?"**

**"No!" Euryale's red eyes bored into Percy. "I don't care what you remember, son of the sea god. I can smell Medusa's blood on you.**

"Gross."

**It's faint, yes, several years old, but ****_you_**** were the last one to defeat her. She ****_still_**** has not returned from Tartarus. It's your fault!"**

**Percy didn't really get that. The whole "dying then returning from Tartarus" concept gave him a headache.**

"I feel you, bro." Leo said, nodding his head.

"Oh, come on! Its not that hard to understand!" I stated while going over the explanation in my head.

"Hold up, Annie." Thalia said. "No one really wants to know how it works."

"Don't call me Annie!" I hissed, my hand on my dagger. She put her hands up in a surrendering gesture and leaned away from me.

**Of course, so did the idea that a ballpoint pen could turn into a sword, or that monsters could disguise themselves with something called the Mist, or that Percy was the son of a barnacle-encrusted god from five thousand years ago.**

Everyone sniggered at this. "He sounds like Athena! Luckily his dad didn't hear that!" Nico said between laughs.

**But he d****_id_**** believe it. Even though his memory was erased, he knew he was a demigod the same he knew his name was Percy Jackson.**

"At least he knew his name." Jason grumbled.

I really hope that Jason will get along with Percy. I don't see how he couldn't because everyone that Percy comes in contact with (except immortal beings, of course) trusted him and thought of him as a great friend.

**From his very first conversation with Lupa the wolf,**

"She's the one that trains demigods before they go to camp." Jason explained.

**He'd accepted that this crazy messed-up world of the gods and monsters was his reality. Which pretty much sucked.**

"Yeah, it does." All of the demigods said sadly.

Paul and Sally looked at them with a little pity.

**"How about we call it a draw?" he said. "I can't kill you. You can't kill me. If you're Medusa's sisters-like ****_the_**** Medusa who turned people to stone-shouldn't I be petrified by now?**

"They're not going to like that." I warned.

"Annabeth you're talking to a book." Piper said.

"Don't judge me!" I yelled, but a smile played on my face.

**"Heroes!" Euryale said with disgust. "They always bring that up, just like our mother! 'Why can't you turn people to stone? Your ****_sister_**** can turn people to stone.'**

"It was her curse." I muttered. Everyone gave me weird looks. "What?" I asked.

No one answered me so I just decided to read.

**Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, boy! That was Medusa's curse alone.**

I groaned and put my head in my hands. "Just say it."

Leo piped up. "Okay! Annabeth? You think like a gorgon!"

**_She_**** was the most hideous one in the family. She got all the luck.**

**Stheno looked hurt. "Mother said ****_I_**** was the most hideous."**

**"Quiet!" Euryale snapped. "As for you, Percy Jackson, it's true you bear the mark of Achilles. That makes you a little tougher to kill. But don't worry. We'll find a way."**

"The mark of Achilles? What's that?" Jason asked. Leo and Piper gave me quizzical looks.

"I bet it will explain if you guys will just let me read!" I was getting somewhat annoyed.

"Jeez Annabeth," Nico said. "I know you're in love with books and all, but no need to be harsh about it." I huffed, while the rest of the group chuckled.

**"The mark of what?"**

"What a Seaweed Brain." I muttered. I really miss his Seaweed Brain-ness (Oh no… Did I, Annabeth Chase, use a word not in the dictionary? What did this world come to!).

**"Achilles," Stheno said cheerfully. "Oh, he was ****_gorgeous_****! Dipped in the River Styx as a child, you know, so he was invulnerable except for a tiny spot on his ankle. That's what happened to you, dear. Someone must've dumped you in the Styx and made your skin like iron. But not to worry. Heroes like you always have a weak spot. We just have to find it, and then we can kill you. Won't that be lovely? Have a Cheese 'n' Wiener!"**

"So… let me get this straight. Percy swam in the _actual_ River Styx in the _Underworld_, and now he's _invulnerable_?" Leo asked with astonishment.

"Pretty much…" I looked as Paul, Piper, Leo, and Jason's mouths hit the ground.

"Does his skin feel like iron?" I'm actually not surprised that Leo would say that.

"Uh, no, Leo, that'd be really freaky." I replied.

"If that were true it'd be weird to hold to hold hands with him…" He trailed off. We all looked at him weird and he seemed to realize that we were all staring at him. "Um… not that I actually thought about holding hands with him… Just read Annabeth." He looked embarrassed.

**Percy tried to think. He didn't remember any dip in the Styx. Then again, he didn't remember much of anything. His skin didn't feel like iron, but it would explain how he'd held out so long against the gorgons.**

**Maybe if he just fell down the mountain… would he survive?**

"Luke did…" I looked down along with the people who knew Luke. "But you shouldn't risk it."

**He didn't want to risk it-not without something to slow the fall, or a sled, or…**

"Oh no! Annabeth! Kelp Head's rubbing off on you!" Thalia held her hands over her heart and pretended to feint. I just had to crack a smile.

**Hmm…**

**"Reconsidering?" Stheno asked. "Very wise, dear. I added some gorgon's blood to these, so your death will be quick and painless."**

"Gorgon's blood. Blood from their right side can cure anything, while blood from the left side is fatal." I gulped.

"Demon snacks…" Leo said, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't really work for me.

**Percy's throat constricted. "You added your blood to the Cheese 'n' Wieners?"**

**"Just a little." Stheno smiled. "A tiny nick on my arm, but you're sweet to be concerned. Blood from our right side can be cure anything, you know, but blood from our left side is deadly-"**

"Ugh not again! I know, I know! I think like a gorgon." I shook my head. How much worse could this day get? Oh great, now I just jinxed it.

**"You dimwit!" Euryale screeched. "You're not supposed to tell him that! He wont eat the wieners if you tell him they're poisoned!"**

**Stheno looked stunned. "He won't? But I said it would be quick an painless."**

Some people gave a light chuckle, but it was hard to joke when your boyfriend's life was on the line.

**"Never mind!" Euryale's fingernails grew into claws. "We'll kill him the hard way-just keep slashing until we find the weak spot.**

A small tear escaped my eyes and I gave Sally a hug.

** Once we defeat Percy Jackson, we'll be more famous than Medusa! Our patron will reward us greatly!"**

"Patron?"

"Probably Gaea." I responded.

**Percy gripped his sword. He'd have to time his move perfectly-a few seconds of confusion, grab the platter with his left hand…**

**Keep them talking, he thought.**

"Smart." I said. Thalia and Nico stared at me with shock.

"You… Just called Percy… S-smart." Thalia stuttered.

"So? He can be smart when he wants to be, which is usually not that often, but still."

**"Before you slash me to bits," he said, "who's this patron you mentioned?"**

**Euryale sneered. "The goddess Gaea, of course! The one who brought us back from oblivion! You wont live long enough to meet her, but your friends will soon face her wrath. Even now, her armies are marching south. A the Feast of Fortuna, she'll awaken, and the demigods will be cut down like-like-"**

**"Like our low prices at Bargain Mart!" Stheno suggested.**

Everyone cracked up at this. "She really needs to let that go."

**"Gah!" Euryale stormed toward her sister. Percy took the opening. He grabbed Stheno's platter, scattering poisoned Cheese 'n' Wieners, and slashed Riptide across Euryale's waist, cutting her in half.**

Sally, Paul, and I let out a sigh, while the rest of the demigods screamed: "Yeah! Go Percy!"

**He raised the platter, and Stheno found herself facing her own greasy reflection.**

**"Medusa!" she screamed.**

The tension broke. "She's dumber than Kelp Head! And that's really saying something!" Thalia said.

**Her sister Euryale had crumbled to dust, but she was already starting to reform, like a snowman un-melting.**

"I really love this kid's descriptions!" Leo exclaimed.

**"Stheno, you fool!" she gurgled as her half-made face rose from the mound of dust. "That's just your own reflection! Get him!"**

**Percy slammed the metal tray on the top of Stheno's head, and she passed out cold.**

**He put the platter behind his butt, said a silent prayer to whatever Roman god oversaw stupid sledding tricks, and jumped off the side of the hill.**

"Chapter's over. Now can someone take this book and read before I hurt them?" I asked.

"Oh my gods! Annabeth doesn't want a book? The apocalypse has started! Ahhhhh!"

I shook my head and smiled. Thalia can be such a drama queen sometimes.

"I will." Jason said. I was kind of surprised that he volunteered, but I gave him the book and prepared for the worst.


	3. Chapter 3-PERCY

Jason's PoV

I took the book before Annabeth could run me through with her knife. She looked kind of surprised, but I guess she's expecting me to be a little jealous of Percy. I haven't really heard of all the things he's done, but, as of now, I didn't really see anything to be jealous of except the fact that he was invulnerable. I've got to admit, that's pretty sick.

**Chapter 2-Percy**

**The thing about plummeting downhill at fifty miles an hour on a snack platter-if you realize it's a bad idea when you're halfway down, it's too late.**

"Does he always point out the obvious?" I asked.

"Pretty much." Thalia said seriously.

**Percy narrowly missed a tree, glanced off a boulder, and spun a three-sixty as he shot toward the highway. The stupid snack tray did not have power steering.**

Thalia shook her head. "And he proves my point without even being here."

**He heard the gorgon sisters screaming and caught a glimpse of Euryale's coral-snake hair at the top of the hill, but he didn't have time to worry about it. The roof of the apartment building loomed below him like the prow of a battleship. Head-on collision in ten, nine, eight…**

Annabeth glared daggers at Nico, Leo, and I. "If anyone says anything I swear…" She let the threat hang, but we all got the idea and lifted our hands in surrender.

**He managed to swivel sideways to avoid breaking his legs on impact. The snack platter skittered across the roof and sailed through the air. The platter went one way. Percy went the other.**

**As he fell toward the highway, a horrible scenario flashed through his mind: his body smashing against an SUV's windshield, some annoyed commuter trying to push him off with the wipers. ****_Stupid sixteen-year-old kid falling from the sky! I'm late!_**

Even in the seriousness of the situation we all laughed. He sure is funny, but I hope he gets by in the Roman camp seeing as they're more serious and strict.

**Miraculously, a gust of wind blew him to one side-just enough to miss the highway and crash into a clump of bushes. It wasn't a soft landing, but it was better than asphalt.**

**Percy groaned. He wanted to lie there and pass out, but he had to keep moving.**

**He struggled to his feet. His hands were scratched up, but no bones seemed to be broken. He still had his backpack. Somewhere on the sled ride he'd lost his sword, but Percy knew it would eventually reappear in his pocket in pen form. That was part of its magic.**

"Dude! Where can I get one?" Leo asked. "All of you guys have sweet weapons except me!"

"Leo, calm down. Don't you like your tool belt?"

He looked down at his tool belt, which was still around his waist. "Oh. Just kidding. I trump all you guys! Ha!" He then got up and started dancing around the room.

Piper pulled him back into a chair. "Nobody says trump anymore, Leo."

"Maybe _I_ say it."

**He glanced up the hill. The gorgons were hard to miss, with their colorful snake hair and bright green Bargain Mart vests. They were picking their way down the slope, going slower than Percy but with a lot more control. Those chicken feet must've been good for climbing. Percy figured he had maybe five minutes before they reached him.**

Everyone was on the edge of his or her seat, wanting him to arrive.

**Next to him, a tall chain-link fence separated the highway from a neighborhood of winding streets, cozy houses, and tall eucalyptus trees. The fence was probably there to keep people from getting onto the highway and doing stupid things-like sledding into the fast lane on snack trays-but the chain-link was full of big holes. Percy could easily slip into the neighborhood. Maybe he could find a car and drive west to the ocean. He didn't like stealing cars, but over the past few weeks, in life-and-death situations, he'd "borrowed" several, including a police cruiser.**

Leo pumped his fist. "I like this kid's style!"

I gave him a weird look. "Since when are you into stealing?"

"Since now! I don't know everything about this Percy dude, but he sounds pretty dang awesome!"

"I am pretty awesome." Said a voice in the corner. All of our heads turned.

Annabeth then got up and dragged the boy back to where they were sitting. "You know what? You do a horrible imitation of him, Nico."

"Aw, man! You just have to ruin all of the fun, don't you Annabeth?"

**He'd meant to return them, but they never seemed to last long.**

Thalia shook her head. "That's Kelp Head for you. He ruins everything he touches.

For someone that everyone seems to miss and admire, they sure do make fun of him a lot.

"He's blown up at least eight schools." Sally put it.

"He took my car to the beach and Rachel brought it back dented." Paul added.

"The list goes on and on," Thalia said. "But if we want to finish this book anytime soon, then we'd better keep reading."

**He glanced east. Just as he'd figured, a hundred yards uphill the highway cut through the base of the cliff. Two tunnel entrances, one for each direction of traffic, stared down at him like eye sockets of a giant skull. In the middle, where the nose would have been, a cement wall jutted from the hillside, with a metal door like the entrance to a bunker.**

I smiled. Not all of my memories have come back yet, but I hope hearing about camp and the people there will help me out a little bit.

**It might have been a maintenance tunnel. That's probably what mortals thought, if they noticed the door at all. But they couldn't see through the Mist. Percy knew the door was more than that.**

**Two kids in armor flanked the entrance. They wore a bizarre mix of plumed Roman helmets, breastplates, scabbards, blue jeans, purple T-shirts, and white athletic shoes. The guard on the right looked like a girl, though it was hard to tell for sure with all the armor. The one on the left was a stocky guy with a bow and quiver on his back. Both kids held long wooden staffs with iron spear tips, like old-fashioned harpoons.**

** Percy's internal radar was pinging like crazy.**

"I still find that really odd."

**After so many horrible days, he'd finally reached his goal. His instincts told him that if he could make it inside that door, he might find safety for the first time since the wolves had sent him south.**

**So why did he feel such dread?**

"Why shouldn't you feel such dread?" Nico asked mysteriously.

**Farther up the hill, the gorgons were scrambling over the roof of the apartment complex. Three minutes away-maybe less.**

**Part of him wanted to run to the door in the hill. He'd have to cross the median of the highway, but then it would be a short sprint. He could make it before the gorgons reached him.**

**Part of him wanted to head west to the ocean.**

"Why is he still debating this? I thought he would learn to trust his instincts by now!" Annabeth wondered.

"Annabeth, honey," Mrs. Jackson-Blofis comforted. "He wants to be safe, and with his memories gone, he just needs reassurance."

**That's where he'd be safest. That's where his power would be greatest. Those Roman guards at the door made him uneasy. Something inside him said: ****_This isn't my territory. This is dangerous_****.**

"Yep." Nico said bluntly.

Thalia stared at him incredulously and whispered, "Dude, you don't just say that!" She shocked his arm and shook her head. "Idiot."

**"You're right, of course," said a voice next to him.**

**Percy jumped. At first he thought Beano had managed to sneak up on him again, but the old lady sitting in the bushes was even more repulsive than a gorgon.**

I shuddered. "What could be worse than a gorgon?"

Thalia shrugged. "Well, there's-"

Annabeth cut her off. "Yes, we know." She turned to me. "Read Jason."

**She looked like a hippie who'd been kicked to the side of the road maybe forty years ago, where she'd been collecting trash and rags ever since. She wore a dress made of tie-dyed cloth, ripped-up quilts, and a plastic grocery bags. Her frizzy mop of hair was gray-brown, like root-beer foam, tied back with a peace-sign headband. Warts and moles covered her face. When she smiled, she showed exactly three teeth.**

**"It isn't a maintenance tunnel," she confided. "It's the entrance to camp."**

**A jolt went up Percy's spine. ****_Camp_****. Yes, that's where he was from. A camp. Maybe this was his home. Maybe Annabeth was close by.**

"Wrong camp, Seaweed Brain."

**But something felt wrong.**

**The gorgons were still on the roof of the apartment building. Then Stheno shrieked in delight and pointed in Percy's direction.**

**The old hippie lady raised her eyebrows. "Not much time, child. You need to make your choice."**

"Oh no. This is not going to be good." Annabeth whispered.

**"Who are you?" Percy asked, though he wasn't sure he wanted to know. The last thing he needed was another harmless mortal who turned out to be a monster.**

**"Oh, you can call me June." The old lady's eyes sparkled as if she'd made an excellent joke. "It ****_is_**** June, isn't it? They named the month after me!"**

We all started cracking up. "Juno? Gods she's gotten worse from the last time I saw her!" I said between laughs.

"Serves her right!"

Paul and Sally looked at us quizzically, but Paul spoke up. "Um, you guys know that you're talking about the Queen of the Gods, right?"

"Yep. She was the one you decided to do this whole kidnapping and memory removing thing in the first place." I explained.

"She isn't really my favorite Goddess." Annabeth admitted.

**"Okay… Look, I should go. Two gorgons are coming. I don't want them to hurt you."**

**June clasped her hands over her heart. "How sweet! But that's part of your choice!"**

**"My choice…" Percy glanced nervously toward the hill. The gorgons had taken off their green vests. Wings sprouted from their backs-small bat wings, which glinted like brass.**

**Since when did they have ****_wings_****?**

Annabeth chuckled. "Since always, Seaweed Brain. Duh."

** Maybe they were ornamental. Maybe they were too small to get a gorgon into the air. Then the two sisters leaped off the apartment building and soared toward him.**

**_Great. Just great._**

**"Yes, a choice," June said, as if she were in no hurry. "You could leave me here at the mercy of the gorgons and go to the ocean. You'd make it there safely, I guarantee. The gorgons will be quite happy to attack me and let you go. In the sea, no monster would bother you. You could begin a new life, live to a ripe old age, and escape a great deal of pain and misery that is in your future."**

I gaped at the book. "That's too good to be true. There's no way that could actually happen."

"Actually I think she's being truthful." Annabeth said.

**Percy sure he wasn't going to like the second option. "Or?"**

**"Or you could do a good deed for an old lady," she said. "Carry me to the camp with you."**

Leo snorted. "No contest!"

**"Carry you?" Percy hoped she was kidding. Then June hiked up her skirts and showed him her swollen purple feet.**

There were 'yucks' around the room.

**"I can't get there by myself," she said. "Carry me to camp-across the highway, through the tunnel, across the river."**

**Percy didn't know what river she meant, but it didn't sound easy. June looked pretty heavy.**

**The gorgons were only fifty yards away now-leisurely gliding toward him as if they knew the hunt was almost over.**

**Percy looked at the old lady. "And id carry you to this camp because-?"**

**"Because it's a kindness!" she said. "And if you don't, the gods will die, the world we know will perish, and everyone from your old life will be destroyed.**

"Now he'll do it." Annabeth mumbled. "He's the most loyal person ever."

**Of course, you wouldn't remember them, so I suppose it wont matter. You'd be safe at the bottom of the sea…"**

**Percy swallowed. The gorgons shrieked with laughter as they soared in for the kill.**

**"If I go to the camp," he said, "will I get my memory back?"**

**"Eventually," June said. "But be warned, you will sacrificed much! You'll lose the mark of Achilles.**

"No!" Nico shrieked. "It took me a year to convince him!"

**You'll feel pain, misery, and loss beyond anything you've ever known. But you might have a chance to save your old friends and family, to reclaim your old life."**

**The gorgons were circling tight overhead. They were probably studying the old woman, trying to figure out who the new player was before they struck.**

**"What about those guards at the door?" Percy asked.**

**June smiled. "Oh, they'll let you in, dear. You can trust those two. So, what do you say? Will you help a defenseless old woman?"**

Thalia snorted. "Pfft. She's anything but defenseless."

**Percy doubted she was defenseless. At worst, this was a trap. At best, it was some kind of test.**

"I hate tests." Leo grumbled.

**Percy hated tests.**

"Yay! Great minds think alike!"

**Since he'd lost his memory, his whole life was one fill-in-the-blank. He was _, from _. He felt like _, and if the monsters caught him, he'd be _.**

"Ohohohoh! Pick me! Pick me!" Leo waved his hand into the air and jumped up and down in his seat.

"No." Piper said and glared at him.

**Then he thought about Annabeth, the only part of his old life he was sure about. He ****_had_**** to find her.**

Piper held her hand over her heart. "That is _so_ adorable!"

**"I'll carry you." He scooped up the old woman.**

**She was lighter than he expected. Percy tried to ignore her sour breath and her calloused hands clinging to his neck. He made it across the first lane of traffic. A driver honked. Another yelled something that was lost in the wind. Most just swerved and looked irritated, as if they had to deal with a lot of ratty teenagers carrying old hippie women across the freeway here in Berkeley.**

**A shadow fell over him. Stheno called down gleefully, "Clever boy! Found a goddess to carry, did you?"**

**A goddess?**

"Clueless as always." Annabeth said.

**June cackled with delight, muttering, "Whoops!" as a car almost killed them.**

**Somewhere off to his left, Euryale screamed, "Get them! Two prizes are better than one!"**

**Percy bolted across the remaining lanes. Somehow he made it to the median alive. He saw the gorgons swooping down, cars swerving as the monsters passed overhead. He wondered what the mortals saw through the Mist- giant pelicans? Off-course hang gliders? The wolf Lupa had told him that mortal minds could believe just about anything-except the truth.**

"Except for you and Rachel, of course." Annabeth told Sally. I guess she's clear-sighted.

**Percy ran for the door in the hillside. June got heavier with every step. Percy's heart pounded. His ribs ached.**

**One of the guards yelled. The guy with the bow nocked an arrow. Percy shouted, "Wait!"**

**But the boy wasn't aiming at him. The arrow flew over Percy's head. A gorgon wailed in pain. The second guard readied her spear, gesturing frantically at Percy to hurry.**

**Fifty feet from the door. Thirty feet.**

**"Gotcha!" shrieked Euryale.**

"No!"

**Percy turned as an arrow thudded into her forehead. Euryale tumbled into the fast lane.**

I released the breath I didn't know I was holding along with everyone else.

**A truck slammed into her and carried her backward a hundred yards, but she just climbed over the cab, pulled the arrow out of her head, and launched back into the air.**

**Percy reached the door. "Thanks," he told the guards. "Good shot."**

**"That should've killed her!" the archer protested.**

**"Welcome to my world," Percy muttered.**

**"Frank," the girl said. "Get them inside, quick! Those are gorgons."**

Everyone turned to me. "I can't remember any Franks." I said.

**"Gorgons?" The archer's voice squeaked. It was hard to tell much about him under the helmet, but he looked stout like a wrestler, maybe fourteen or fifteen. "Will the door hold them?"**

**In Percy's arms, June cackled. "No, no it won't.**

"That's reassuring." Leo commented.

**Onward Percy Jackson! Through the tunnel, over the river!"**

**"Percy Jackson?" The female guard was darker-skinned, with curly hair sticking out the sides of her helmet. She looked younger than Frank-maybe thirteen. Her sword scabbard came down almost to her ankle. Still, she sounded like she was the one in charge. "Okay, you're obviously a demigod. But who's the-?" She glanced at June. "Never mind. Just get inside. I'll hold them off."**

**"Hazel," the boy said. "Don't be crazy."**

Nico shifted at the name Hazel, but nobody seemed to notice as they all turned to me again. "I might remember something vague…" I trailed off, trying to remember. Gods this is so frustrating.

**"Go!" she demanded.**

**Frank cursed in another language-was that Latin?-and opened the door. "Come on!"**

**Percy followed, staggering under the weight of the old lady, who was ****_definitely_**** getting heavier. He didn't know how that girl Hazel could hold off the gorgons by herself, but he was too tired to argue.**

Nico, Annabeth, and Thalia gawked at the book. "Too tired to argue? Who is this guy?"

"He sure does seem different." Annabeth whispered.

**The tunnel cut through solid rock, about the width and height of a school hallway. At first, it looked like a typical maintenance tunnel, with electric cables, warning signs, and fuse boxes on the walls, lightbulbs in wire cages along the ceiling. As they ran deeper into the hillside, the cement floor changed to tiled mosaic. The lights changed to reed torches, which burned but didn't smoke. A few hundred yards ahead, Percy saw a square of daylight.**

**The old lady was heavier now than a pile of sandbags. Percy's arms shook from the strain. June mumbled a song in Latin, like a lullaby, which didn't help Percy concentrate.**

"Gods I hate those lullabies." Leo muttered.

**Behind them, the gorgons' voices echoed in the tunnel. Hazel shouted. Percy was tempted to dump June and run back to help,**

"That's more like it!" Thalia shouted then looked at Annabeth. "See? He's not totally insane."

**but then the entire tunnel shook with the rumble of falling stone. There was a squawking sound, just like the gorgons had made when Percy had dropped a crate of bowling balls on them in Napa. He glanced back. The end of the tunnel was now filled with dust.**

**"Shouldn't we check on Hazel?" he asked.**

**"She'll be okay-I hope," Frank said. "She's good underground.**

Annabeth seemed lost in thought. "Hmm…"

I racked my brain trying to figure out who Hazel was, but nothing came.

**Just keep moving! We're almost there."**

**"Almost where?"**

**June chuckled. "All roads lead there, child. You should know that."**

**"Detention?" Percy asked.**

Everyone chuckled. "For him? Probably." Thalia said.

**"Rome, child," the old woman said. "Rome."**

**Percy wasn't sure he'd heard her right. True, his memory was gone. His brain hadn't felt right since he had woken up in the Wolf House. But he was pretty sure Rome wasn't in California.**

"Why does he keep stating the obvious?" Leo asked.

"Why do you think, Captain Obvious?" Piper retorted.

"That's _Mr. _Captain Obvious to you."

**They kept running. The glow at the end of the tunnel grew brighter, and finally they burst into sunlight.**

**Percy froze. Spread out at his feet was a bowl-shaped valley several miles wide. The basin floor was rumpled with smaller hills, golden plains, and stretches of forest. A small river cut a winding course from a lake in the center and around the perimeter, like a capital G.**

**The geography could've been anywhere in northern California-live oaks and eucalyptus trees, gold hills and blue skies. That big mountain-what was it called, Mount Diablo?-rose in the distance, right where it should be.**

**But Percy felt like he'd stepped into a secret world.**

"In a way…"

**In center of the valley, nestled by the lake, was a small city of white marble buildings with red-tiled roofs. Some had domes and columned porticoes, like national monuments. Others looked like palaces, with golden doors and large gardens. He could see an open plaza with freestanding columns, fountains, and statues. A five-story-tall Roman coliseum gleamed in the sun, next to a long oval arena like a racetrack.**

**Across the lake to the south, another hill was dotted with even more impressive buildings-temples, Percy guessed. Several stone bridges crossed the river as it wound through the valley, and in the north, a long line of brickwork arches stretched from the hills into the town. Percy thought it looked like an elevated train track. Then he realized it must be an aqueduct.**

**The strangest part of the valley was right below him. About to hundred yards away, just across the river, was some sort of military encampment. It was about a quarter mile square, with earthen ramparts on all four sides, the tops lined with sharpened spikes. Outside the walls ran a dry moat, also studded with spikes. Wooden watchtowers rose at each corner, manned by sentries with oversized, mounted crossbows. Purple banners hung from the towers. A wide gateway opened on the far side of camp, leading toward the city. A narrower gate stood closed on the riverbank side. Inside, the fortress bustled with activity: dozens of kids going to and from barracks, carrying weapons, polishing armor. Percy heard the clank of hammers at a forge and smelled meat cooking over a fire.**

By the time the description of the camp was read, everyone was staring in shock at either the book or me. I was grinning up a storm (not literally) at the remembrance of my home. Things kept coming back to me and I was smiling so much that I thought my face would freeze like that.

**Something about this place felt very familiar, yet not quite right.**

**"Camp Jupiter," Frank said. "We'll be safe once-"**

**Footsteps echoed in the tunnel behind them. Hazel burst into the light. She was covered with stone dust and breathing hard. She'd lost her helmet, so her curly brown hair fell around her shoulders. Her armor had long slash marks in front from the claws of a gorgon. One of the monsters had tagged her with a 50% off sticker.**

**"I slowed them down," she said. "But they'll be here any second."**

**Frank cursed. "We have to get across the river."**

**June squeezed Percy's neck tighter. "Oh, yes, please. I can't get my dress wet."**

**Percy bit his tongue. If this lady was a goddess, she must've been the goddess of smelly, heavy, useless hippies.**

Everyone guffawed at this.

Annabeth was laughing the loudest. "Oh how I wish she could've heard that!"

** But he'd come this far. He'd better keep lugging her along.**

**_It's a kindness,_**** she'd said. ****_And if you don't, the gods will perish, and everyone from your old life will be destroyed._**

**If this was a test, he couldn't afford to get an F.**

**He stumbled a few times as they ran for the river. Frank and Hazel kept him on his feet.**

**They reached the riverbank, and Percy stopped to catch his breath. The current was fast, but the river didn't look deep. Only a stone's throw across stood the gates of the fort.**

**"Go, Hazel." Frank nocked two arrows at once. "Escort Percy so the sentries don't shoot him. It's my turn to hold off the baddies."**

Annabeth clenched her fists and turned towards me. "They better not shoot him or else…" She let the threat hang, but I'm pretty sure she'd carry through with it if anything bad happened.

**Hazel nodded and waded into the stream.**

**Percy started to follow, but something made him hesitate. Usually he loved the water, but this river seemed… powerful, and not necessarily friendly.**

**"The Little Tiber," said June sympathetically. "It flows with the power of the original Tiber, river of the empire. This is your last chance to back out, child. The mark of Achilles is a Greek blessing. You can't retain it if you cross into Roman territory. The Tiber will wash it away."**

"NO!" Nico wailed, his hands in the air.

**Percy was too exhausted to understand all that, but he got the main point. "If I cross, I won't have iron skin anymore?"**

**June smiled. "So what will it be? Safety, or a future of pain and possibility?"**

"Does she want him to save the world?" I asked. "It seems like she keeps trying to convince him to give up and let them fade."

**Behind him, the gorgons screeched as they flew from the tunnel. Frank let his arrows fly.**

**From the middle of the river, Hazel yelled, "Percy, come on!"**

**Up on the watchtowers, horns blew. The sentries shouted and swiveled their crossbows toward the gorgons.**

**Annabeth, Percy thought. He forged into the river.**

Piper looked like she was about to pass out. "Aww! This just keeps getting better!"

**It was icy cold, much swifter than he'd imagined, but that didn't bother him. New strength surged through his veins. His senses tingled like he'd been injected with caffeine.**

Paul looked at Annabeth. "Does that always happen when he's in water?"

Annabeth nodded.

"Awesome! Now I know how to get him up in the morning."

** He reached the other side and put the old woman down as the camp's gaits opened. Dozens of kids in armor poured out.**

**Hazel turned with a relieved smile. Then she looked over Percy's shoulder, and her expression changed to horror. "Frank!"**

**Frank was halfway across the river when the gorgons caught him. They swooped out of the sky and grabbed him by either arm. He screamed in pain as their claws dug into his skin.**

We all sucked in a breath. Even though none of us knew Frank, we didn't want to see him get hurt.

**The sentries yelled, but Percy knew they couldn't get a clear shot. They'd end up killing Frank. The other kids drew swords and got ready to charge into the water, but they'd be too late.**

**There was only one way.**

"Cue kick-butt Percy!" Nico yelled and bumped fists with Thalia.

**Percy thrust out his hands. An intense tugging sensation filled his gut, and the Tiber obeyed his will. The river surged. Whirlpools formed on either side of Frank. Giant watery hands erupted from the stream, copying Percy's movements. The giant hands grabbed the gorgons, who dropped Frank in surprise. Then the hands lifted the squawking monsters in a liquid vise grip.**

**Percy heard the other kids yelping and backing away, but he stayed focused on his task. He made a smashing gesture with his fists, and the giant hands plunged the gorgons into the Tiber. The monsters hit the bottom and broke into dust. Glittering clouds of gorgon essence struggled to re-form, but the river pulled them apart like a blender. Soon every trace of the gorgons was swept downstream. The whirlpools vanished, and the current returned to normal.**

Everyone that didn't know Percy could do that stared at the book in awe. Man this kid is powerful! It almost knocks me out when I try to fly, but this doesn't seem like it took him any effort at all.

"Alright guys. Listen up!" Leo got everyone's attention. "I'm going to make a list, okay? He grabs a paper and pen off of a nearby table. "Awesome-sword. Extra-strength-in-water. Control-over-water. Iron-skin." He wrote.

"Leo, is that really necessary?" Piper asked.

"Of course it is! When we meet him I don't want to get any facts wrong!"

Piper shook her head and motioned for me to keep reading.

**Percy stood on the riverbank. His clothes and his skin steamed as if the Tiber's waters had given him an acid bath. He felt exposed, raw… vulnerable.**

"No-o-o!" Nico whined. He kept muttering something about stupid rivers.

**In the middle of the Tiber, Frank stumbled around, looking stunned but perfectly fine. Hazel waded out and helped him ashore. Only then did Percy realize how quiet the other kids had become.**

**Everyone was staring at him. Only the old lady June looked unfazed.**

**"Well, that was a lovely trip," she said. "Thank you, Percy Jackson, for bringing me to Camp Jupiter."**

**One of the girls made a choking sound. "Percy… Jackson?"**

**She sounded as if she recognized his name.**

Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows. "Why would a Roman know him?"

**Percy focused on her, hoping to see a familiar face.**

**She was obviously a leader. She wore a regal purple cloak over her armor. Her chest was decorated with medals. She must have been about Percy's age, with dark, piercing eyes and long black hair. Percy didn't recognize her, but the girl stared at him as if she'd seen him in her nightmares.**

I was thinking hard. "I… I think that's Reyna. The purple cloak is the symbol of the praetors… the leaders of the Roman camp. I… I was one of them. I think Reyna was the other one."

**June laughed with delight. "Oh, yes. You'll have such fun together!"**

**Then, just because the day hadn't been weird enough already,**

"When is his day ever _not_ weird?" Thalia chuckled and shook her head.

**the old lady began to glow and change form. She grew until she was a shining, seven-foot-tall goddess in a blue dress, with a cloak that looked like goat's skin over her shoulders. Her face was stern and stately. In her hand was a staff topped with a lotus flower.**

**If it was possible for the campers to look more stunned, they did. The girl with the purple cloak knelt. The others followed her lead. One kid got down so hastily he almost impaled himself on his sword.**

**Hazel was the first to speak. "Juno."**

**She and Frank also fell to their knees, leaving Percy the only one standing. He knew he should probably kneel too, but after carrying the old lady so far, he didn't feel like showing her that much respect.**

Annabeth threw her hands into the air. "Yes! Thank you Percy! That just made my day!" She let out a breath and smiled.

**"Juno, huh?" he said. "If I passed your test, can I have my memory and my life back?"**

"Yes! Please! That's what we all want." I said.

Piper looked at me. "No, Jason. Only you and Percy need that. We all have our memories and don't plan on losing them anytime soon."

Leo gasped. "Piper! Why did you do this to us? You just jinxed us all! We're doomed!"

"Shut it Valdez." She said, her hand on her knife.

"Okay, okay. Sheesh. No need to be harsh."

**The goddess smiled. "In time, Percy Jackson, if you succeed here at camp. You've done well today, which is a good start. Perhaps there's hope for you yet."**

**She turned to the other kids. "Romans, I present to you the son of Neptune. For months he has been slumbering, but now he is awake. His fate is in your hands. The Feast of Fortuna comes quickly, and Death must be unleashed if you are to stand any hope in the battle. Do now fail me!"**

"Death must be unleashed? Who captured Death?" Nico would be the one to ask that.

Thalia stared at him. "How the heck are we supposed to know that, Death Breath?"

**Juno shimmered and disappeared. Percy looked at Hazel and Frank for some kind of explanation, but they seemed just as confused as he was. Frank was holding something Percy hadn't noticed before-two small clay flasks with cork stoppers, like potions, one in each hand. Percy had no idea where they'd come from, but he saw Frank slip them into his pockets. Frank gave him a look like: ****_We'll talk about it later_****.**

**The girl in the purple cloak stepped forward. She examined Percy warily, and Percy couldn't shake the feeling that she wanted to run him through with her dagger.**

Annabeth gritted her teeth.

**"So," she said coldly, "a son of Neptune, who comes to us with the blessing of Juno."**

**"Look," he said, "my memory's a little fuzzy. Um, it's ****_gone_****, actually. Do I know you?"**

**The girl hesitated. "I am Reyna, praetor of the Twelfth Legion. And… no, I don't know you."**

**The last part was a lie.**

Annabeth looked puzzled. I don't think Reyna has ever mentioned a Percy Jackson before, but my memory sucks so I can't be sure.

**Percy could tell from her eyes. But he also understood that if he argued with her about it here, in front of her soldiers, she wouldn't appreciate it.**

"Since when does he have tact?" Thalia asked.

"I have no idea." Annabeth said. "When we first got to camp he asked Chiron if he was supposed to be dead."

**"Hazel," said Reyna, "Bring him inside. I want to question him at the ****_principia_****. Then we'll send him to Octavian. We must consult the auguries before we decide what to do with him."**

"What's that supposed to mean?" Paul asked.

**"What do you mean," Percy asked, "'decide what to do with' me?"**

**Reyna's hand tightened on her dagger. Obviously she was not used to having her orders questions. "Before we accept anyone into camp, we must interrogate them and read the auguries. Juno said our fate is in our hands. We have to know whether the goddess has brought us as a new recruit…"**

**Reyna studied Percy as if she found that doubtful.**

**"Or," she said more hopefully, "if she's brought us an enemy to kill."**

"That's it." I said closing the book.

Annabeth glared at me. "She better not hurt him." She could look pretty evil if she wanted to and her gray eyes didn't help that much.

"Hey, Annabeth, calm down. I can't control her actions."

She sighed and calmed herself down. "Can somebody please read?"

"Sure Annabeth." Thalia said and took the book.


	4. Chapter 4-PERCY

Thalia opened to the correct page and began to read.

**Chapter 3-Percy**

**Percy wasn't scared of ghosts, which was lucky.**

"Yep. Extremely lucky." Nico said.

"Why's that?" Jason asked, but he wasn't really sure he wanted to know.

"Oh, no big reason. He just went to the underworld three or four times." Nico replied sarcastically.

The trio's **(Jason, Leo, and Piper will be referred to as "the trio")** mouths hit the floor.

"Who goes to the Land of the Dead and returns alive?" Leo wondered.

Thalia shrugged. "Well, as we already said, Percy's been there a couple times, Annabeth went with him two of those times, I've been there once **(I'm pretty sure it's only once)**, and Nico practically lives there."

Those who didn't know this stared at them in shock.

**Half the people in camp were dead.**

"Okay then…" Piper said. She didn't know how someone could spend most of their time with ghosts. They freaked her out.

**Shimmering purple warriors stood outside the armory, polishing ethereal swords. Others hung out in front of the barracks. A ghostly boy chased a ghostly dog down the street. And at the stables, a big glowing red dude with the head of a wolf guarded a herd of…Were those unicorns?**

Leo threw his hands in the air. "UNICORNS! Yes! My life is finally complete!"

Piper ignored Leo's outburst and looked at Jason. "Why unicorns?"

Jason shrugged. He was still getting his memories back and it was really starting to annoy the heck out of him.

**None of the campers paid the ghosts much attention, but as Percy's entourage walked by, with Reyna in the lead and Frank and Hazel on either side, all the spirits stopped what they were doing and stared at Percy. A few looked angry. The little boy ghost shrieked something like "Greggus!" and turned invisible.**

"Greggus?" Annabeth asked Jason. "Is that Latin?"

Jason shrugged again. "He could've meant _graecus_. That means Greek in Latin.

**Percy wished he could turn invisible too. **

Annabeth smiled and waved her Yankees cap in the air.

**After weeks on his own, all this attention made him uneasy. He stayed between Hazel and Frank and tried to look inconspicuous. **

**"Am I seeing things?" he asked. "Or are those—" **

**"Ghosts?" Hazel turned. She had startling eyes, like fourteen-karat gold. **

"Gold…" Annabeth mused. She was trying to figure out who Hazel's and Frank's parents were. So far she had a suspicion that Frank's dad is Apollo, and that Nico has another sister. Which also meant that, if this is true... Hades broke the oath!

**"They're Lares. House gods."**

**"House gods," Percy said. "Like…smaller than real gods, but larger than apartment gods?"**

Leo burst out laughing. "Man, this guy rocks!"

"**They're ancestral spirits," Frank explained. He'd removed his helmet, revealing a babyish face that didn't go with his military haircut or his big burly frame. He looked like a toddler who'd taken steroids and joined the Marines.**

"That's… um… odd." Piper said, tilting her head to the side.

**"The Lares are kind of like mascots," he continued. "Mostly they're harmless, but I've never seen them so agitated."**

**"They're staring at me," Percy said. "That ghost kid called me Greggus. My name isn't Greg."**

"And his stupid questions start now." Annabeth smiled and shook her head. She couldn't forget how clueless he seemed when he first arrived at camp.

"**_Graecus," _****Hazel said. "Once you've been here awhile, you'll start understanding Latin. Demigods have a natural sense for it. ****_Graecus _****means Greek."**

"**Is that bad?" Percy asked.**

"No!" Everyone yelled.

**Frank cleared his throat. "Maybe not. You've got that type of complexion, the dark hair and all. Maybe they think you're actually Greek. Is your family from there?"**

"Kinda sorta maybe." Thalia said and chuckled.

**"Don't know. Like I said, my memory is gone."**

**"Or maybe…" Frank hesitated.**

**"What?" Percy asked.**

**"Probably nothing," Frank said. "Romans and Greeks have an old rivalry. Sometimes Romans use ****_graecus _****as an insult for someone who's an outsider—an enemy.** **I wouldn't worry about it."**

"Why thank you so very much." Leo put his hands over his heart. "It just gets me right here."

**He sounded pretty worried.**

**They stopped at the center of camp, where two wide stone-paved roads met at a T.**

**A street sign labeled the road to the main gates as via praetoria. The other road, cutting across the middle of camp, was labeled via principalis. Under those markers were hand-painted signs like Berkeley 5 miles; NEW ROME 1 MILE; OLD ROME 7280 MILES; HADES 2310 MILES (pointing straight down)** **; RENO 208 MILES, AND CERTAIN DEATH: YOU ARE HERE!**

"Subtle much?" Nico asked.

**For certain death, the place looked pretty clean and orderly. The buildings were freshly whitewashed, laid out in neat grids like the camp had been designed by a fussy math teacher. The barracks had shady porches, where campers lounged in hammocks or played cards and drank sodas. Each dorm had a different collection of banners out front displaying Roman numerals and various animals—eagle, bear, wolf, horse, and something that looked like a hamster.**

"Maybe it was a chinchilla…" Thalia pondered.

Everyone gave him weird looks.

"What? One of my teachers had a chinchilla in the classroom. Its name was Luna. Yes, I know, what a coincidence, blah blah blah. Anyway, the chinchilla would sit in its cage all day and either sleep, or stare at us. I swear that thing would sit there and look at us like it wanted to kill us! It was evil!

"Okay then…" Nico said scooting away from her. "Another random comment from the Pinecone Face."

**Along the Via Praetoria, rows of shops advertised food, armor, weapons, coffee, gladiator equipment, and toga rentals. A chariot dealership had a big advertisement out front: CAESAR XLS W/ANTILOCK BRAKES, NO DENARII DOWN!**

"Denarii?" Sally asked. She'd been quiet for a while and everyone was surprised when she spoke.

"Um… That's the money." Jason explained. "You guys have drachmas and we have denarii."

**At one corner of the crossroads stood the most impressive building—a two-story wedge of white marble with a columned portico like an old-fashioned bank.** **Roman guards stood out front. Over the doorway hung a big purple banner with the gold letters SPQR embroidered inside a laurel wreath.**

"Senatus Populusque Romanus." Jason said. He started to like this book a lot. It was helping his memory come back. Plus he wanted to learn about the famous Percy Jackson. Pfft. Famous.

"**Your headquarters?" Percy asked.**

**Reyna faced him, her eyes still cold and hostile. "It's called the ****_principia."_**

**She scanned the mob of curious campers who had followed them from the river. "Everyone back to your duties. I'll give you an update at evening muster. Remember, we have war games after dinner."**

"War games?" Piper wondered.

"Aw come on! You're such a beauty queen, Piper." Leo said.

"Don't call me that, Repair Boy."

Leo stuck his tongue out at her.

"Very mature."

**The thought of dinner made Percy's stomach rumble. The scent of barbecue from the dining hall made his mouth water. The bakery down the street smelled pretty wonderful too, but he doubted Reyna would let him get an order to go.**

"Boys." Thalia rolled her eyes. "Always thinking about food."

**The crowd dispersed reluctantly. Some muttered comments about Percy's chances.**

**"He's dead," said one.**

**"Would be ****_those _****two who found him," said another. "Yeah," muttered another. "Let him join the Fifth Cohort. Greeks and geeks."**

"I take that offensively!" Nico shouted.

**Several kids laughed at that, but Reyna scowled at them, and they cleared off.**

**"Hazel," Reyna said. "Come with us. I want your report on what happened at the gates."**

**"Me too?" Frank said. "Percy saved my life. We've got to let him—"**

**Reyna gave Frank such a harsh look, he stepped back.**

**"I'd remind you, Frank Zhang," she said, "you are on ****_probatio _****yourself. You've caused enough trouble this week."**

"Probatio?"Paul asked.

"New recruits are put on _probatio_." Jason explained. "Once a year has passed or you complete an act of valor you earn your tattoo and first stripe and become a full member of the legion." He paused. "Where the heck did that come from?"

Piper smiled for a second because she was glad that his memories were coming back, but then it disappeared when she thought about the possibility that he had a girlfriend at the Roman camp. She wouldn't be able to stand losing him.

**Frank's ears turned red. He fiddled with a little tablet on a cord around his neck. Percy hadn't paid much attention to it, but it looked like a name tag made out of lead.**

**"Go to the armory," Reyna told him. "Check our inventory. I'll call you if I need you."**

**"But—" Frank caught himself.**

**"Yes, Reyna."**

**He hurried off.**

**Reyna waved Hazel and Percy toward the headquarters. "Now, Percy Jackson, let's see if we can improve your memory."**

**The ****_principia _****was even more impressive inside. On the ceiling glittered a mosaic of Romulus and Remus under their adopted mama she-wolf (Lupa had told Percy that story a million times).** **The floor was polished marble. The walls were draped in velvet, so Percy felt like he was inside the world's most expensive camping tent. And wooden poles studded with bronze. Along the back wall stood a display of banners medals—military symbols, Percy guessed.** **In the center was one empty display stand, as if the main banner had been taken down for cleaning or something.**

**In the back corner, a stairwell led down. It was blocked by a row of iron bars like a prison door. Percy wondered what was down there—monsters? Treasure? Amnesiac demigods who had gotten on Reyna's bad side?**

"I certainly hope not." Annabeth growled.

Jason scooted his chair away from her.

**In the center of the room, a long wooden table was cluttered with scrolls, notebooks, tablet computers, daggers, and a large bowl filled with jelly beans,**

Leo's mouth watered. "Yummy."

**Which seemed kind of out of place.** **Two life-sized statues of greyhounds—one silver, one gold—flanked the table.** **Reyna walked behind the table and sat in one of two high-backed chairs. Percy wished he could sit in the other, but Hazel remained standing. Percy got the feeling he was supposed to also.**

**"So…" he started to say.**

**The dog statues bared their teeth and growled.**

Annabeth put her hand on her dagger.

Thalia had a feeling that if anyone hurt Percy that the book would get to experience Annabeth's wrath.

**Percy froze. Normally he liked dogs, but these glared at him with ruby eyes. Their fangs looked sharp as razors.**

**"Easy, guys," Reyna told the greyhounds.**

**They stopped growling, but kept eyeing Percy as though they were imagining him in a doggie bag.**

"I don't think he'd fit." Leo said trying to lighten the mood.

"**They won't attack," Reyna said, "unless you try to steal something, or unless I tell them to. That's Argentum and Aurum."**

"Silver and Gold." Jason said.

**"Silver and Gold," Percy said. **

"Creepy. And since when does he know Latin?" Nico wondered.

Thalia shrugged. "Who knows? He's a Kelp Head."

**The Latin meanings popped into his head like Hazel had said they would. He almost asked which dog was which. Then he realized that that was a stupid question.**

"Jeez, you think, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth shook her head.

Thalia put her hand on Annabeth's shoulder and smirked. "No, Annabeth. He doesn't think."

**Reyna set her dagger on the table. Percy had the vague feeling he'd seen her before.**

Annabeth was thinking hard. She couldn't remember hearing the name Reyna before, but she wasn't sure.

**Her hair was black and glossy as volcanic rock, woven in a single braid down her back. She had the poise of a sword fighter—relaxed yet vigilant, as if ready to spring into action at any moment. The worry lines around her eyes made her look older than she probably was.**

**"We ****_have _****met," he decided. "I don't remember when. Please, if you can tell me anything—"**

**"First things first," Reyna said. "I want to hear your story. What ****_do _****you remember? How did you get here? And don't lie. My dogs don't like liars."**

**Argentum and Aurum snarled to emphasize the point.**

**Percy told his story—how he'd woken up at the ruined mansion in the woods of Sonoma. He described his time with Lupa and her pack, learning their language of gestures and expressions, learning to survive and fight.**

"Pfft. He knows how to fight."

**Lupa had taught him about demigods, monsters, and gods. She'd explained that she was one of the guardian spirits of Ancient Rome. Demigods like Percy were still responsible for carrying on Roman traditions in modern times—fighting monsters, serving the gods, protecting mortals, and upholding the memory of the empire. She'd spent weeks training him, until he was as strong and tough and vicious as a wolf.** **When she was satisfied with his skills, she'd sent him south, telling him that if he survived the journey, he might find a new home and regain his memory.**

**None of it seemed to surprise Reyna. In fact, she seemed to find it pretty ordinary—except for one thing.**

**"No memory at all?" she asked. "You ****_still _****remember nothing?"**

**"Fuzzy bits and pieces." Percy glanced at the greyhounds. He didn't want to mention Annabeth.** **It seemed too private, and he was still confused about where to find her. He was sure they'd met at a camp—but this one didn't feel like the right place.**

"Not really."

**Also, he was reluctant to share his one clear memory: Annabeth's face, her blond hair and gray eyes, the way she laughed, threw her arms around him, and gave him a kiss whenever he did something stupid.**

"You must've kissed him a lot." Thalia laughed.

**She must have kissed me a lot, Percy thought.**

"Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no." Thalia put her head in her hands. "This cannot be happening."

"You both are a lot alike." Sally commented. "You must be great friends."

"When they're not trying to kill each other." Nico whispered to Annabeth.

**He feared that if he spoke about that memory to anyone, it would evaporate like a dream. He couldn't risk that.**

Piper sighed dreamily. "You guys have a wonderful relationship."

**Reyna spun her dagger. "Most of what you're describing is normal for demigods. At a certain age, one way or another, we find our way to the Wolf House. We're tested and trained.**

"Sure. Whatever floats your boat." Nico said.

**If Lupa thinks we're worthy, she sends us south to join the legion. But I've never heard of someone losing his memory. How did you find Camp Jupiter?"**

"His weird little internal GPS thing. Duh." Leo said like it was obvious.

**Percy told her about the last three days—the gorgons who wouldn't die, the old lady who turned out to be a goddess, and finally meeting Hazel and Frank at the tunnel in the hill.**

**Hazel took the story from there. She described Percy as brave and heroic, which made him uncomfortable. All he'd done was carry a hippie bag lady.**

"He is really brave." Thalia said.

"And heroic." Nico added.

"And AWESOME!" Surprisingly Paul shouted.

The trio really wanted to meet Percy Jackson. From what they've heard, he's a really cool guy and everyone seems to fall in love with him (not that kind of love) on sight.

Jason wanted to meet him too. He wasn't really feeling jealousy towards him anymore. He felt more… curious.

**Reyna studied him. "You're old for a recruit. You're what, sixteen?"**

**"I think so," Percy said.**

**"If you spent that many years on your own, without training or help, you should be dead. A son of Neptune? You'd have a powerful aura that would attract all kinds of monsters."**

**"Yeah," Percy said. "I've been told that I smell."**

Nico chuckled. "Grover said that he smelled like dead fish and salt."

"He said you smell like dead people and the color black." Thalia said.

"How can you smell the color black?"

"You just can ok?

**Reyna almost cracked a smile, which gave Percy hope. Maybe she was human after all.**

"Only half." Leo sniggered.

"Shut up, Valdez."

"**You must've been somewhere before the Wolf House," she said.**

"WOOP WOOP! GO CAMP HALF BLOOD!" The demigods shouted.

**Percy shrugged. Juno had said something about him slumbering, and he ****_did _****have a vague feeling that he'd been asleep—maybe for a long time. But that didn't make sense.**

**Reyna sighed. "Well, the dogs haven't eaten you, so I suppose you're telling the truth."**

**"Great," Percy said. "Next time, can I take a polygraph?"**

**Reyna stood. She paced in front of the banners. Her metal dogs watched her go back and forth.**

**"Even if I accept that you're not an enemy," she said, "you're not a typical recruit. The Queen of Olympus simply doesn't appear at camp, announcing a new demigod. The last time a major god visited us in person like that…" She shook her head. "I've only heard legends about such things. And a son of Neptune…that's not a good omen. Especially now."**

"Whats wrong with now?"

**"What's wrong with Neptune?" Percy asked. "And what do you mean, 'especially now'?"**

**Hazel shot him a warning look.**

**Reyna kept pacing. "You've fought Medusa's sisters, who haven't been seen in thousands of years. You've agitated our Lares, who are calling you a ****_graecus. _****And you wear strange symbols—that shirt, the beads on your necklace. What do they mean?"**

"Well-" Annabeth started.

"We know, Annabeth. We know."

**Percy looked down at his tattered orange T-shirt. It might have had words on it at one point, but they were too faded to read. He should have thrown the shirt away weeks ago. It was worn to shreds, but he couldn't bear to get rid of it. He just kept washing it in streams and water fountains as best he could and putting it back on.**

**As for the necklace, the four clay beads were each decorated with a different symbol. One showed a trident.**

"His first year-the first son of Poseidon at camp." Annabeth explained to the trio and Paul.

**Another displayed a miniature Golden Fleece.**

"The quest to get the Golden Fleece to save Thalia's tree."

**The third was etched with the design of a maze,**

"The quest into the labyrinth."

**And the last had an image of a building— maybe the Empire State Building? — with names Percy didn't recognize engraved around it.**

"The battle of Manhattan and the names were of the people who had lost their lives."

**The beads felt important, like pictures from a family album, but he couldn't remember what they meant.**

"**I don't know," he said.**

**"And your sword?" Reyna asked.**

"How did she know about his sword?"

**Percy checked his pocket. The pen had reappeared as it always did. He pulled it out, but then realized he'd never shown Reyna the sword. Hazel and Frank hadn't seen it either. How had Reyna known about it?**

**Too late to pretend it didn't exist… He uncapped the pen. Riptide sprang to full form. Hazel gasped. The greyhounds barked apprehensively.**

**"What is that?" Hazel asked. "I've never seen a sword like that."**

**"I have," Reyna said darkly. "It's very old—a Greek design. We used to have a few in the armory before…" She stopped herself.** "**The metal is called Celestial bronze. It's deadly to monsters, like Imperial gold, but even rarer."**

"Imperial gold?" Most people asked.

**"Imperial gold?" Percy asked.**

"Well that was… weird."

**Reyna unsheathed her dagger. Sure enough, the blade was gold. "The metal was consecrated in ancient times, at the Pantheon in Rome. Its existence was a closely guarded secret of the emperors—a way for their champions to slay monsters that threatened the empire. We used to have more weapons like this, but now…well, we scrape by. I use this dagger. Hazel has a ****_spatha, _****a cavalry sword. Most legionnaires use a shorter sword called a ****_gladius. _****But that weapon of yours is not Roman at all. It's another sign you're not a typical demigod. And your arm..."**

"What's wrong with his arm?" Annabeth asked.

**"What about it?" Percy asked.**

**Reyna held up her own forearm. Percy hadn't noticed before, but she had a tattoo on the inside: the letters SPQR, a crossed sword and torch, and under that, four parallel lines like score marks.**

Jason looked down at his own tattoo, while Annabeth was trying to figure out who Reyna's parent was.

**Percy glanced at Hazel.**

**"We all have them," she confirmed, holding up her arm. "All full members of the legion do."**

**Hazel's tattoo also had the letters SPQR, but she only had one score mark, and her emblem was different: a black glyph like a cross with curved arms and a head.**

Annabeth gasped.

"What's wrong, Annabeth?"

"I think Nico has a sister."

Everyone turned towards Nico.

"Your dad broke the oath."

Nico nodded and looked down. Everyone thought this was weird behavior for him, but they didn't question it.

**Percy looked at his own arms. A few scrapes, some mud, and a fleck of Crispy Cheese 'n' Wiener, but no tattoos.**

"If he gets a tattoo…" Sally trailed off. No one wanted to know what would happen to Percy if he did get a tattoo.

**"So you've never been a member of the legion," Reyna said. "These marks can't be removed. **

"And they can't even be removed." Sally continued.

**I thought perhaps…" She shook her head, as if dismissing an idea.**

**Hazel leaned forward. "If he's survived as a loner all this time, maybe he's seen Jason."** **She turned to Percy. "Have you ever met a demigod like us before? A guy in a purple shirt, with marks on his arm—"**

"I'm guessing purple's the Roman color."

**"Hazel." Reyna's voice tightened. "Percy's got enough to worry about."**

**Percy touched the point of his sword and Riptide shrank back into a pen. "I haven't seen anyone like you guys before. Who's Jason?"**

**Reyna gave Hazel an irritated look. "He is…he ****_was _****my colleague." She waved her hand at the second empty chair. "The legion normally has two elected praetors. Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, was our other praetor until he disappeared last October."**

**Percy tried to calculate. **

"Keyword: tried." Thalia smirked.

**He hadn't paid much attention to the calendar out in the wilderness, but Juno had mentioned that it was now June. "You mean he's been gone eight months, and you haven't replaced him?"**

**"He might not be dead," Hazel said. "We haven't given up."**

Jason smiled. _It's good to know that your friends still care after eight months of being missing_, he thought

**Reyna grimaced. Percy got the feeling this guy Jason might've been more to her than just a colleague.**

Piper frowned. She hated the fact the she was probably just his _pretend_ girlfriend and that Reyna was probably his _real_ girlfriend. _Whatever makes him happy, _she thought.

"**Elections only happen in two ways," Reyna said. "Either the legion raises someone on a shield after a major success on the battlefield—and we haven't had any major battles—or we hold a ballot on the evening of June 24, at the Feast of Fortuna. That's in five days."**

**Percy frowned. "You have a feast for ****_tuna_****?****_"_**

Annabeth, Nico, and Thalia stared at the book in shock.

"Oh. My. Gods. _That's _why he has such bad luck!" Annabeth yelled, exasperated. "No wonder! He compared the goddess of luck… to tuna… How much more of a Seaweed Brain can he get?"

"**_Fortuna," _****Hazel corrected. "She's the goddess of luck. Whatever happens on her feast day can affect the entire rest of the year. She can grant the camp good luck…or ****_really _****bad luck."**

"With his luck?" Nico asked. "Probably really bad luck."

Sally gulped and Paul tried to comfort her.

From what Jason had heard, Percy's luck was very bad and he was glad it wasn't he that had bad luck. Not that he wanted Percy to have bad luck, but still.

**Reyna and Hazel both glanced at the empty display stand, as if thinking about what was missing.**

**A chill went down Percy's back. "The Feast of Fortune…The gorgons mentioned that. So did Juno. They said the camp was going to be attacked on that day, something about a big bad goddess named Gaea, and an army, and Death being unleashed. You're telling me that day is this ****_week_****?"**

"I hate time limits." Leo muttered.

**Reyna's fingers tightened around the hilt of her dagger.**

**"You will say nothing about that outside this room," she ordered. "I will not have you spreading more panic in the camp."**

"**So it's true," Percy said. "Do you know what's going to happen? Can we stop it?"**

**Percy had just met these people. He wasn't sure he even liked Reyna. But he wanted to help. **

"Same old Percy." Thalia smiled.

**They were demigods, the same as him. They had the same enemies. Besides, Percy remembered what Juno had told him: it wasn't just this camp at risk. His old life, the gods, and the entire world might be destroyed. Whatever was coming down, it was huge.**

Nico snorted. "When is it _not_ huge for him?"

"**We've talked enough for now," Reyna said. "Hazel, take him to Temple Hill. Find Octavian. On the way you can answer Percy's questions. Tell him about the legion."**

**"Yes, Reyna."**

**Percy still had so many questions; his brain felt like it would melt.**

Thalia chuckled, but the look from Annabeth said "_Drop it_".

**But Reyna made it clear the audience was over. She sheathed her dagger. The metal dogs stood and growled, inching toward Percy.**

**"Good luck with the augury, Percy Jackson," she said. "If Octavian lets you live,**

Annabeth growled.

**Perhaps we can compare notes…about your past."**

"Well, on that happy note, the chapter's over." Thalia then shoved the book into Nico's hands. "Read, Dead Boy."

Nico muttered something that nobody heard and reluctantly turned to the write page.

* * *

**Hey! Thanks so much for reading! Thank you to the two people that reviewed and the people that favorited or followed! I love getting an email saying that any three of those things happened. It makes me so happy the people find my story interesting, and as I know two reviews is not a lot at all, I hope you may take a couple seconds to leave one of what you thought or a suggestion or something. Again, thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5-PERCY

Nico then began to read.

**Chapter 4-Percy**

**On the way out of camp, Hazel bought him an espresso drink and a cherry muffin from Bombilo the two-headed coffee merchant.**

"Well that's something you certainly don't see everyday," Paul commented.

"Not for you it isn't," Thalia muttered.

**Percy inhaled the muffin. The coffee was great. Now, Percy thought, if he could just get a shower, a change of clothes, and some sleep, he'd be golden. Maybe even Imperial golden.**

"Lame," Leo said and tried to flip his hair like a girl would, but he failed. Epically.

**He watched a bunch of kids in swimsuits and towels head into a building that had steam coming out of a row of chimneys. Laughter and watery sounds echoed from inside, like it was an indoor pool**-**Percy's kind of place.**

"Of course it is." Annabeth shook her head. "He takes the longest showers ever!"

"**Bath house," Hazel said. "We'll get you in there before dinner, hopefully. You haven't lived until you've had a Roman bath." **

Leo inspected his arms to make sure that they weren't see-through. "Um guys? I don't feel dead, but she just said that I haven't lived until I've had a Roman bath and I haven't!" He then gasped. "She's a liar!"

"Shut up, Repair Boy!" Piper scolded. "It was just a figure of speech!"

**Percy sighed with anticipation.**

**As they approached the front gate, the barracks got bigger and nicer. Even the ghosts looked better—with fancier armor and shinier auras. Percy tried to decipher the banners and symbols hanging in front of the buildings.**

"**You guys are divided into different cabins?" he asked.**

"**Sort of." Hazel ducked as a kid riding a giant eagle swooped overhead.**

"Giant eagles?" Thalia wondered.

"**We have five cohorts of about forty kids each. Each cohort is divided into barracks of ten—like roommates, kind of."**

**Percy had never been great at math, but he tried to multiply.**

"Key word: tried." Nico said

"**You're telling me there's two hundred kids at camp?"**

"See?" Annabeth said. "He's not as dumb as we all think he is. He's actually really observant."

"**Roughly."**

"**And ****_all _****of them are children of the gods? The gods have been busy." Hazel laughed.**

So did the whole room.

**"Not all of them are children of ****_major _****gods. There are hundreds of minor Roman gods. Plus, a lot of the campers are legacies—second or third generation. Maybe their parents were demigods. Or their grandparents."**

"Children of demigods?" Annabeth asked. A tiny hopeful fire sparked in her mind. Maybe she could live there with Percy. Get married, have kids, grow old together. It's definitely what she wants, but first they have to get through whatever lies ahead of them, and, knowing Percy, it was probably a heck of a lot.

**Percy blinked. "Children of demigods?"**

A couple people chuckled that they said the same thing.

"**Why? Does that surprise you?"**

"Yes." All of the demigods said.

**Percy wasn't sure. The last few weeks he'd been so worried about surviving day to day. The idea of living long enough to be an adult and have kids of his own**—**that seemed like an impossible dream.**

We all nodded. That was really all of there dreams, but it just seemed too good to be true.

"**These Legos—"**

"Did he seriously just call them Legos?" Thalia wondered.

"I'm _so_ calling them that when we get there!" Leo shouted.

"**Legacies," Hazel corrected.**

"**They have powers like a demigod?"**

"**Sometimes. Sometimes not. But they can be trained. All the best Roman generals and emperors—you know, they all claimed to be descended from gods. Most of the time, they were telling the truth. The camp augur we're going to meet, Octavian, he's a legacy, descendant of Apollo. He's got the gift of prophecy, supposedly."**

"Supposedly?" Nico wondered.

"**Supposedly?"**

Nico put his head in his hands. "Crap. This is not good."

**Hazel made a sour face. "You'll see."**

**That didn't make Percy feel so great, if this dude Octavian had Percy's fate in his hands.**

"Yeah. Please be all right." Sally pleaded. She really missed her son and was dreading hearing all of the things he was going to go through before this book was over, and judging from the size of it, he went through a whole lot. That didn't exactly make her feel any better.

"**So the divisions," he asked, "the cohorts, whatever—you're divided according to who your godly parent is?"**

**Hazel stared at him. "What a horrible idea! **

"Thank you so much for that wonderful compliment." *****Piper****** muttered.

**No, the officers decide where to assign recruits. If we were divided according to god, the cohorts would be all uneven. I'd be alone."**

Annabeth looked at Nico. This only confirmed her suspicions more.

**Percy felt a twinge of sadness, like he'd been in that situation. **

"You have!" Leo shouted. "What did he, like, lose his memory or something?"

**"Why? What's your ancestry?"**

**Before she could answer, someone behind them yelled, "Wait!"**

**A ghost ran toward them—an old man with a medicine-ball belly and toga so long he kept tripping on it. He caught up to them and gasped for air, his purple aura flickering around him.**

"**This is him?" the ghost panted. "A new recruit for the Fifth, perhaps?"**

"**Vitellius," Hazel said, "we're sort of in a hurry."**

**The ghost scowled at Percy and walked around him, inspecting him like a used car. "I don't know," he grumbled. "We need only the best for the cohort. Does he have all his teeth? Can he fight?** **Does he clean stables?"**

"**Yes, yes, and no," Percy said.**

Annabeth laughed. "Pfft. He can clean stables just fine!"

Nico smiled. "Yeah, but only if someone's in danger."

"Who was in danger?" Sally asked worriedly.

"Nico, Grover, Percy kind of, and I." Annabeth said. "Don't worry though. It all worked out in the end."

"**Who are you?"**

"**Percy, this is Vitellius." Hazel's expression said: ****_Just humor him. _****"He's one of our Lares; takes an interest in new recruits."**

**On a nearby porch, other ghosts snickered as Vitellius paced back and forth, tripping over his toga and hiking up his sword belt.**

"Man, I can't wait to see this guy!" Leo laughed. "He sounds hilarious!"

"**Yes," Vitellius said, "back in Caesar's day—that's ****_Julius _****Caesar, mind you—the Fifth Cohort was something! Twelfth Legion Fulminata, pride of Rome! But these days? Disgraceful what we've come to. Look at Hazel here, using a ****_spatha. _****Ridiculous weapon for a Roman legionnaire—that's for cavalry! And you, boy—you smell like a Greek sewer.**

Thalia snorted. "That's just what everyone wants to hear."

**Haven't you had a bath?"**

"**I've been a little busy fighting gorgons," Percy said.**

**"Vitellius," Hazel interrupted, "we've got to get Percy's augury before he can join. Why don't you check on Frank? He's in the armory doing inventory. You ****_know_**** how much he values your help."**

"_Sure_ he does."

**The ghost's furry purple eyebrows shot up. "Mars Almighty! They let the ****_probatio_**** check the armor? We'll be ruined!"**

**He stumbled off down the street, stopping every few feet to pick up his sword or rearrange his toga.**

"**O-h-h-kay," Percy said.**

"**Sorry," Hazel said. "He's eccentric, but he's one of the oldest Lares. Been around since the legion was founded."**

"**He called the legion…****_Fulminata?" _****Percy said.**

"Armed with lightning," Jason said.

"'**Armed with Lightning,'" Hazel translated.**

Leo snickered.

**"That's our motto.** **The Twelfth Legion was around for the entire Roman Empire. When Rome fell, a lot of legions just disappeared. We went underground, acting on secret orders from Jupiter himself: stay alive, recruit demigods and their children, keep Rome going. We've been doing that ever since, moving around to wherever Roman influence was strongest. The last few centuries, we've been in America."**

"No." Thalia said sarcastically. "We're in Antarctica."

**As bizarre as that sounded, Percy had no trouble believing it. In fact, it sounded familiar, like something he'd always known.**

"Kind of," Annabeth said. She was glad he was getting his memories back, even if they were subconscious.

"**And you're in the Fifth Cohort," he guessed, "which maybe isn't the most popular?"**

**Hazel scowled. "Yeah. I joined up last September."**

"**So…just a few weeks before that guy Jason disappeared."**

"He's pretty observant." Piper noticed.

**Percy knew he'd hit a sore spot. Hazel looked down. She was silent long enough to count every paving stone.**

"**Come on," she said at last. "I'll show you my favorite view."**

**They stopped outside the main gates. The fort was situated on the highest point in the valley, so they could see pretty much everything.**

**The road led down to the river and divided. One path led south across a bridge, up to the hill with all the temples. The other road led north into the city, a miniature version of Ancient Rome. Unlike the military camp, the city looked chaotic and colorful, with buildings crowded together at haphazard angles. Even from this far away, Percy could see people gathered in the plaza, shoppers milling around an open-air market, parents with kids playing in the parks.**

Annabeth perked up. "Families?"

"**You've got families here?" he asked.**

"**In the city, absolutely," Hazel said. "When you're accepted into the legion, you do ten years of service. After that, you can muster out whenever you want. Most demigods go into the mortal world. But for some—well, it's pretty dangerous out there. This valley is a sanctuary. You can go to college in the city, get married, have kids, retire when you get old.**

All of the demigods smiled. It seemed like a hopeless dream for them.

**It's the only safe place on earth for people like us.**

"What is Camp Half Blood then? Chopped liver?" Thalia asked.

**So yeah, a lot of veterans make their homes there, under the protection of the legion." Adult demigods. Demigods who could live without fear, get married, raise a family. Percy couldn't quite wrap his mind around that. It seemed too good to be true.**

They all nodded. It didn't seem possible.

"**But if this valley is attacked?"**

**Hazel pursed her lips. "We have defenses. The borders are magical. **

"Copiers!" Nico cried.

**But our strength isn't what it used to be. Lately, the monster attacks have been increasing. What you said about the gorgons not dying… we've noticed that too, with other monsters."**

"**Do you know what's causing it?" Hazel looked away. Percy could tell that she was holding something back—something she wasn't supposed to say.**

"Again," Piper said. "He notices the smallest things."

"**It's—it's complicated," she said. "My brother says Death isn't—"**

Annabeth knit her eyebrows. Hazel had said she had a brother, but she also said that she'd be alone if the cabins were sorted by godly parents. It didn't make any sense.

**She was interrupted by an elephant.**

**Someone behind them shouted, "Make way!"**

**Hazel dragged Percy out of the road as a demigod rode past on a full-grown pachyderm covered in black Kevlar armor. The word elephant was printed on the side of his armor, which seemed a little obvious to Percy.**

Jason chuckled. "A little?"

**The elephant thundered down the road and turned north, heading toward a big open field where some fortifications were under construction.**

**Percy spit dust out of his mouth.**

"**What the—?"**

"**Elephant,"** **Hazel explained.**

"**Yeah, I read the sign. Why do you have an elephant in a bulletproof vest?"**

"Why not?" Nico asked.

"**War games tonight," Hazel said. "That's Hannibal. If we didn't include him, he'd get upset."**

"**We can't have that."**

Everyone laughed. Jason was beginning to like Percy. He seemed like a cool guy.

**Hazel laughed. It was hard to believe she'd looked so moody a moment ago. Percy wondered what she'd been about to say. She had a brother.**

**Yet she had claimed she'd be alone if the camp sorted her by her godly parent.**

Annabeth chuckled to herself and got some weird looks.

"I was thinking the same thing," she explained.

**Percy couldn't figure her out. She seemed nice and easy going, mature for somebody who couldn't have been more than thirteen. But she also seemed to be hiding a deep sadness, like she felt guilty about something.**

**Hazel pointed south across the river. Dark clouds were gathering over Temple Hill. Red flashes of lightning washed the monuments in blood-colored light. "Octavian is busy," Hazel said. "We'd better get over there."**

**On the way, they passed some goat-legged guys hanging out on the side of the road.**

"Satyrs," Leo said.

"No duh!" Piper whacked him on the head.

"What was that for?"

"For being an idiot."

He pouted and we all laughed.

"**Hazel!" one of them cried.**

**He trotted over with a big grin on his face. He wore a faded Hawaiian shirt and nothing for pants except thick brown goat fur. His massive Afro jiggled. His eyes were hidden behind little round rainbow-tinted glasses. He held a cardboard sign that read: ****WILL****WORK****SING****TALK**** go away for denarii.**

"**Hi, Don," Hazel said. "Sorry, we don't have time—"**

"**Oh, that's cool! That's cool!" Don trotted along with them. "Hey, this guy's new!" He grinned at Percy. "Do you have three denarii for the bus? Because I left my wallet at home, and I've got to get to work, and—"**

"**Don," Hazel chided. "Fauns don't have wallets. Or jobs. Or homes. And we don't have buses."**

"Good thing Grover's not here." Nico said.

"**Right," he said cheerfully, "but do you have denarii?"**

"**Your name is Don the Faun?" Percy asked.**

"**Yeah. So?"**

"**Nothing." Percy tried to keep a straight face. "Why don't fauns have jobs? Shouldn't they work for the camp?"**

**Don bleated. "Fauns! Work for the camp! Hilarious!"**

"They don't work for the camp?" Piper asked. "That's weird. They should do something to help out."

"It's a _really_ good thing Grover's not here," Thalia added.

"**Fauns are, um, free spirits," Hazel explained. "They hang out here because, well, it's a safe place to hang out and beg. We tolerate them, but—"**

"**Oh, Hazel is awesome," Don said. "She's so nice! All the other campers are like, 'Go away, Don.' But she's like, 'Please go away, Don.' I love her!"**

A couple people snorted.

**The faun seemed harmless, but Percy still found him unsettling. He couldn't shake the feeling that fauns should be more than just homeless guys begging for denarii. **

"Exactly what we're saying!" Leo threw his hands in the air.

**Don looked at the ground in front of them and gasped. "Score!"**

**He reached for something, but Hazel screamed, "Don, no!"**

**She pushed him out of the way and snatched up a small shiny object. Percy caught a glimpse of it before Hazel slipped it into her pocket. He could have sworn it was a diamond.**

"A diamond?" Annabeth asked. "How could a diamond get there?" _Unless she summoned it_, she thought. She knew that Hades was also the god of riches and maybe Hazel got that side of the deal, per say, when Nico got the death side of it. He can summon skeletons just fine so why can't Hazel summon precious metals.

"**Come on, Hazel," Don complained. "I could've bought a year's worth of doughnuts with that!"**

"**Don, please," Hazel said. "Go away."**

**She sounded shaken, like she'd just saved Don from a charging bulletproof elephant.**

**The faun sighed. "Aw, I can't stay mad at you. But I swear, it's like you're good luck. Every time you walk by—"**

This only confirmed Annabeth's suspicion more.

"**Good-bye, Don," Hazel said quickly.**

"**Let's go, Percy."**

**She started jogging. Percy had to sprint to catch up.**

"**What was that about?" Percy asked. "That diamond in the road—"**

"**Please," she said. "Don't ask."**

**They walked in uneasy silence the rest of the way to Temple Hill. A crooked stone path led past a crazy assortment of tiny altars and massive domed vaults. Statues of gods seemed to follow Percy with their eyes.**

They all shuddered.

"I hate that," Leo said.

**Hazel pointed out the Temple of Bellona. "Goddess of war," she said. "That's Reyna's mom." Then they passed a massive red crypt decorated with human skulls on iron spikes.**

"**Please tell me we're not going in there," Percy said.**

"Yeah," said Thalia, "He'd probably blast you into smithereens." She had heard stories of his Percy's quest.

**Hazel shook her head. "That's the Temple of Mars Ultor."**

"**Mars ... Ares, the war god?"**

"**That's his Greek name," Hazel said. "But, yeah, same guy. Ultor means 'the Avenger.' He's the second-most important god of Rome."**

**Percy wasn't thrilled to hear that. For some reason, just looking at the ugly red building made him feel angry.**

"As always," Annabeth said.

**He pointed toward the summit. Clouds swirled over the largest temple, a round pavilion with a ring of white columns supporting a domed roof. "I'm guessing that's Zeus—uh, I mean, Jupiter's? That's where we're heading?"**

"**Yeah." Hazel sounded edgy. "Octavian reads auguries there—the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus."**

"The best and the greatest," Jason said while smiling.

Thalia jumped up. "Ha! Suckers! Me and Jason rock!"

"Jason and I," Annabeth corrected.

"Whatever, Wise Girl."

**Percy had to think about it, but the Latin words clicked into English.**

"**Jupiter…the best and the greatest?"**

"**Right."**

"**What's Neptune's title?" Percy asked. "The coolest and most awesome?"**

Nico snorted. "He wishes."

"**Um, not quite." Hazel gestured to a small blue building the size of a tool shed. A cobweb-covered trident was nailed above the door.**

**Percy peeked inside. On a small altar sat a bowl with three dried-up, moldy apples.**

"Sucks for him," Leo said.

**His heart sank. "Popular place."**

"**I'm sorry, Percy," Hazel said. "It's just…Romans were always scared of the sea. They only used ships if they ****_had _****to. Even in modern times, having a child of Neptune around has always been a bad omen. The last time one joined the legion …well, it was 1906, when Camp Jupiter was located across the bay in San Francisco. There was this huge earthquake—"**

"**You're telling me a child of Neptune caused that?"**

"I wonder if he can cause earthquakes," Jason wondered. "That would be totally sick!"

"**So they say." Hazel looked apologetic.**

"**Anyway…Romans fear Neptune, but they don't love him much." Percy stared at the cobwebs on the trident. Great, he thought. Even if he joined the camp, he would never be loved. His best hope was to be scary to his new campmates. Maybe if he did really well, they'd give him some moldy apples.**

**Still…standing at Neptune's altar, he felt something stirring inside him, like waves rippling through his veins.**

"That doesn't sound weird at all," Leo said.

**He reached in his backpack and dug out the last bit of food from his trip—a stale bagel. It wasn't much, but he set it on the altar.**

"**Hey…uh, Dad." He felt pretty stupid talking to a bowl of fruit. "If you can hear me, help me out, okay? Give me my memory back. Tell me—tell me what to do."**

"I'm sure he will," Annabeth said.

"Yeah. He wouldn't ignore his favorite son." Thalia continued.

Nico nodded. "They have a great bond."

Sally smiled. She was glad that they got along even though she knew Percy had been mad at him for some time.

**His voice cracked. He hadn't meant to get emotional, but he was exhausted and scared, and he'd been lost for so long, he would've given anything for some guidance.**

**He wanted to know something about his life for sure, without grabbing for missing memories.**

"That does sound like it sucks," Paul said. He'd been really quiet, but everyone figured he'd just been a little weirded out.

Jason nodded. "Trust me. It does."

**Hazel put her hand on his shoulder.**

"**It'll be okay. You're here now. You're one of us." He felt awkward, depending on an eighth-grade girl he barely knew for comfort, but he was glad she was there.**

**Above them, thunder rumbled. Red lightning lit up the hill.**

Nico turned to Thalia with a huge smile on his face. "Hey, Thalia."

"What?"

"Can you change the color of your lightning?" He asked excitedly.

"Oh no," She put her head in her hands. "Don't you dare turn into that little kid we rescued from that Westover place whose name I believe is Nico."

She turned to the trio. "He kept asking these crazy questions like he asked Percy if his pen ran out of ink and if he could surf really well. He asked if Dad's bolt did six hundred damage or something like that. It was scary."

Nico tapped her on the shoulder. "You never answered my question."

She ignored him.

"**Octavian's almost done," Hazel said.**

"**Let's go."**

**Compared to Neptune's tool shed, Jupiter's temple was definitely optimus and maximus. **

Jason fist-bumped Thalia. "You best!"

**The marble floor was etched with fancy mosaics and Latin inscriptions. Sixty feet above, the domed ceiling sparkled gold. The whole temple was open to the wind.**

**In the center stood a marble altar, where a kid in a toga was doing some sort of ritual in front of a massive golden statue of the big dude himself: Jupiter the sky god, dressed in a silk XXXL purple toga, holding a lightning bolt.**

"**It doesn't look like that," Percy muttered.**

"**What?" Hazel asked.**

"**The master bolt," Percy said.**

Annabeth smiled. "At least he's kind of getting his memory back."

"How would he know what his bolt should look like?" Jason asked.

"His first quest was to retrieve it and get it back to Zeus. Long story. I'll tell you about it during lunch."

"Speaking of lunch," Sally piped up. "After this chapter we should eat."

We all gaped at her.

"It's lunch time already?"

"Yeah."

"**What are you ****_talking _****about?"**

"**I—" Percy frowned. For a second, he'd thought he remembered something. Now it was gone. "Nothing, I guess."**

"Dang it."

**The kid at the altar raised his hands. More red lightning flashed in the sky, shaking the temple. Then he put his hands down, and the rumbling stopped. The clouds turned from gray to white and broke apart. A pretty impressive trick, considering the kid didn't look like much. He was tall and skinny, with straw-colored hair, oversized jeans, a baggy T-shirt, and a drooping toga. He looked like a scarecrow wearing a bed sheet.**

Everyone started cracking up.

"**What's he doing?" Percy murmured.**

**The guy in the toga turned. He had a crooked smile and a slightly crazy look in his eyes, like he'd just been playing an intense video game. In one hand he held a knife. In the other hand was something like a dead animal. **

"Very good thing Grover's not here."

**That didn't make him look any less crazy.**

"**Percy," Hazel said, "this is Octavian."**

"**The ****_graecus_****!" Octavian announced.**

"**How interesting."**

"**Uh, hi," Percy said. "Are you killing small animals?"**

"Subtle much?"

**Octavian looked at the fuzzy thing in his hand and laughed. "No, no. Once upon a time, yes. We used to read the will of the gods by examining animal guts—chickens, goats, that sort of thing. Nowadays, we use these."**

**He tossed the fuzzy thing to Percy. It was a disemboweled teddy bear. Then Percy noticed that there was a whole pile of mutilated stuffed animals at the foot of Jupiter's statue.**

"Stuffed animals?" Thalia laughed. "He's got to be kidding."

"**Seriously?" Percy asked.**

**Octavian stepped off the dais. He was probably about eighteen, but so skinny and sickly pale, he could've passed for younger.**

**At first he looked harmless, but as he got closer, Percy wasn't so sure. Octavian's eyes glittered with harsh curiosity, like he might gut Percy just as easily as a teddy bear if he thought he could learn something from it.**

Annabeth growled. She didn't really like this Octavian guy, especially if he threatened her boyfriend.

**Octavian narrowed his eyes. "You seem nervous."**

"**You remind me of someone," Percy said. "I can't remember who."**

**"Possibly my namesake, Octavian— Augustus Caesar. Everyone says I bear a remarkable resemblance."**

Leo snorted. "He wishes."

**Percy didn't think that was it, but he couldn't pin down the memory. "Why did you call me 'the Greek'?"**

"**I saw it in the auguries." Octavian waved his knife at the pile of stuffing on the altar. "The message said: ****_The Greek has arrived. _****Or possibly: ****_The goose has cried._**

"Yep," Nico said, "I'm sure that's what it said."

**I'm thinking the first interpretation is correct. You seek to join the legion?"**

**Hazel spoke for him. She told Octavian everything that had happened since they met at the tunnel—the gorgons, the fight at the river, the appearance of Juno, their conversation with Reyna.**

**When she mentioned Juno, Octavian looked surprised.**

"**Juno," he mused. "We call her Juno Moneta. Juno the Warner. She appears in times of crisis, to counsel Rome about great threats."**

**He glanced at Percy, as if to say: ****_like mysterious Greeks, for instance._**

Annabeth glared at the book. No one hurt her Seaweed Brain or they would get it.

"**I hear the Feast of Fortuna is this week," Percy said. "The gorgons warned there'd be an invasion on that day. Did you see that in your stuffing?"**

"**Sadly, no." Octavian sighed. "The will of the gods is hard to discern. And these days, my vision is even darker."**

"**Don't you have…I don't know," Percy said, "an oracle or something?"**

The demigods smiled. "I like Rachel a whole lot more than Octavian."

"**An oracle!" Octavian smiled. "What a cute idea. No, I'm afraid we're fresh out of oracles.**

" **Now, if we'd gone questing for the Sibylline books, like I recommended—"**

"**The Siba-what?" Percy asked.**

Annabeth shook her head. "They're prophecy books, Seaweed Brain."

"Annabeth," Thalia said, "You know you're talking to a book, right?"

Annabeth sighed wistfully. "I've always wished books could talk. Then I could read them without reading them."

"Huh?" Nico asked, looking thoroughly confused.

"**Books of prophecy," Hazel said, "which Octavian is ****_obsessed _****with. Romans used to consult them when disasters happened. Most people believe they burned up when Rome fell."**

"**_Some _****people believe that," Octavian corrected. "Unfortunately our present leadership won't authorize a quest to look for them—"**

"Because she's not stupid," Piper said.

"**Because Reyna isn't stupid," Hazel said.**

Everyone laughed.

**"—so we have only a few remaining scraps from the books," Octavian continued.** "**A few mysterious predictions, like these."**

**He nodded to the inscriptions on the marble floor. Percy stared at the lines of words, not really expecting to understand them. He almost choked.**

"**That one." He pointed, translating as he read aloud: ****_"Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall_****—****_"_**

"**Yes, yes." Octavian finished it without looking: ****_"An oath to keep with a final breath and foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."_**

The half bloods gaped at the book.

"How in the world did they know that?"

"Know what, Thalia?" Sally and Paul asked.

"The Second Great Prophecy. Rachel gave it to us not too long ago."

"**I—I know that one." Percy thought thunder was shaking the temple again. Then he realized his whole body was trembling. "That's ****_important._****"**

**Octavian arched an eyebrow. "Of course it's important. We call it the Prophecy of Seven, but it's several thousand years old.**

Everyone raised an eyebrow at that.

Paul looked at us, confused. "Didn't you just say…?"

"Yeah, but apparently they got it _way_ before we did."

**We don't know what it means. Every time someone tries to interpret it…Well, Hazel can tell you. Bad things happen."**

**Hazel glared at him. "Just read the augury for Percy. Can he join the legion or not?"**

**Percy could almost see Octavian's mind working, calculating whether or not Percy would be useful. He held out his hand for Percy's backpack. "That's a beautiful specimen. May I?"**

"What?"

**Percy didn't understand what he meant, but Octavian snatched the Bargain Mart panda pillow that was sticking out of the top of his pack. It was just a silly stuffed toy, but Percy had carried it a long way. He was kind of fond of it.**

We all laughed.

"Oh, Kelp Head. What are we going to do with you?"

**Octavian turned toward the altar and raised his knife.**

"**Hey!" Percy protested.**

**Octavian slashed open the panda's belly and poured its stuffing over the altar.**

**He tossed the panda carcass aside, muttered a few words over the fluff, and turned with a big smile on his face.**

**"Good news!" he said. "Percy may join the legion. We'll assign him a cohort at evening muster. Tell Reyna that I approve."**

"I wonder what would happen if Octavian didn't approve…" Piper pondered.

**Hazel's shoulders relaxed. "Uh…great. Come on, Percy."**

"**Oh, and Hazel," Octavian said. "I'm happy to welcome Percy into the legion. But when the election for praetor comes up, I hope you'll remember—"**

"**Jason ****_isn't _****dead," Hazel snapped.**

Leo poked Jason then gasped. "Jason!"

"What?"

"You're not dead! How can this be?"

"**You're the augur. You're supposed to be looking for him!"**

"**Oh, I am!" Octavian pointed at the pile of gutted stuffed animals. "I consult the gods every day! Alas, after eight months, I've found nothing. Of course, I'm still looking. But if Jason doesn't return by the Feast of Fortuna, we must act. We can't have a power vacuum any longer. I hope you'll support me for praetor. It would mean so much to me."**

"I think I remember this guy a little," Jason snorted. "Who, in their right mind, would want that dude for praetor?"

**Hazel clenched her fists. "Me. Support. You?"**

**Octavian took off his toga, setting it and his knife on the altar. Percy noticed seven lines on Octavian's arm—seven years of camp, Percy guessed. Octavian's mark was a harp, the symbol of Apollo.**

"**After all," Octavian told Hazel, "I might be able to help you. It would be a shame if those awful rumors about you kept circulating…or, gods forbid, if they turned out to be true."**

Everyone gasped. "He's blackmailing Hazel!"

**Percy slipped his hand into his pocket and grabbed his pen. This guy was blackmailing Hazel. That was obvious. One sign from Hazel, and Percy was ready to bust out Riptide and see how Octavian liked being at the other end of a blade.**

Nico shuddered. "Nope."

"No one asked you a question, Death Breath."

"I was just saying how I liked being at the other end of his blade. It's scary."

**Hazel took a deep breath. Her knuckles were white. "I'll think about it."**

"**Excellent," Octavian said. "By the way, your brother is here."**

Nico started freaking out. He had just got back from his visit to the Roman camp and he was sure they'd mention it in the book. He slowly and discreetly moved his chair away from Annabeth and Thalia.

**Hazel stiffened. "My brother? Why?"**

**Octavian shrugged. "Why does your brother do ****_anything_****? He's waiting for you at your father's shrine. Just…ah, don't invite him to stay too long. He has a disturbing effect on the others.**

"I wonder what he means by that."

**Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to keep searching for our poor lost friend, Jason. Nice to meet you, Percy."**

**Hazel stormed out of the pavilion, and Percy followed. He was sure he'd never been so glad to leave a temple in his life. As Hazel marched down the hill, she cursed in Latin.**

**Percy didn't understand all of it, but he got ****_son of a gorgon_****, ****_power-hungry snake_****, and a few choice suggestions about where Octavian could stick his knife.**

"I think I'm starting to like this girl," Thalia nodded.

"**I ****_hate _****that guy," she muttered in English. "If I had my way—"**

"**He won't really get elected praetor, will he?" Percy asked.**

"**I wish I could be certain. Octavian has a lot of friends, most of them ****_bought_****.** **The rest of the campers are afraid of him."**

"Afraid of a scarecrow wearing a bed sheet?" Leo asked.

"**Afraid of that skinny little guy?"**

"**Don't underestimate him. Reyna's not so bad by herself, but if Octavian shares her power…" Hazel shuddered. "Let's go see my brother. He'll want to meet you."**

**Percy didn't argue. He wanted to meet this mysterious brother, maybe learn something about Hazel's background— who her dad was, what secret she was hiding. Percy couldn't believe she'd done anything to be guilty about. **

"Us either."

**She seemed too nice. But Octavian had acted like he had some first-class dirt on her.**

**Hazel led Percy to a black crypt built into the side of the hill. Standing in front was a teenage boy** **in**

Nico paused.

"Well? Read, Death Boy."

** black jeans and an aviator jacket.**

All of their eyes turned to Nico.

He was wearing just that.

"**Hey," Hazel called. "I've brought a friend."**

**The boy turned. Percy had another one of those weird flashes: like this was somebody he should know.**

_No. He would've told me._ Annabeth thought. She couldn't bring herself to accept the fact that Nico might've seen him and not told him.

**The kid was almost as pale as Octavian, but with dark eyes and messy black hair. He didn't look anything like Hazel. He wore a silver skull ring, a chain for a belt, and a black T-shirt with skull designs. At his side hung a pure-black sword.**

All eyes were, again, at Nico.

Annabeth glared at him and he shrunk in his seat.

**For a microsecond when he saw Percy, the boy seemed shocked—panicked even, like he'd been caught in a searchlight.**

"**This is Percy Jackson," Hazel said. "He's a good guy. Percy, this is my brother, the son of Pluto."**

**The boy regained his composure and held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you," he said. "I'm Nico Di Angelo."**

At that moment, Annabeth and Thalia both lunged at Nico.

The trio tried to pull them off, but didn't want to get hit by a fist or blood, whichever happened to be flying at the time.

Piper, Sally, and Paul were all speaking comforting words, but Thalia and Annabeth weren't listening.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bright, white light filled the room. Everyone grew silent and shut their eyes tight to refrain from going blind.

Then, just as quickly as it came on, the light shut off, leaving everyone wondering why there were two figures now standing in the living room.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Immediately all of the demigods sprang into action. Thalia brought out her mace canister and tapped her bracelet in which her shield was concealed. Annabeth pulled her dagger out of her belt. Nico drew his Stygian iron sword. Jason removed his _gladius_. Leo wielded a hammer. Piper unsheathed _Katoptris_. Sally and Paul huddled together behind the armed demigods.

One of the two new individuals—a stocky guy with a stereotypical Asain face of about fourteen or fifteen—pulled out a bow and nocked an arrow, while the other one—a girl that looked about thirteen with dark skin, curly brown hair and eyes that looked like they were made out of gold—pulled what looked like a cavalry sword out of a sheath that almost touched her ankle.

Then, before any fighting could break out, a sticky note fell out of the ceiling.

Without lowering her guard, Thalia bent down and picked up the note.

"Ew. It's pink." She said. "Why can't it be, like, blue or something?"

"Just read it, Thals." Annabeth demanded.

"Fine. It says:

_Dear everyone,_

_These two demigods are here to read with you. Don't worry. They are on your side. Please explain the situation to them and hopefully you will get along. Also, I have stopped time so that you all don't miss anything important._

_~A friend_

_P.S. Please can you not murder Nico? He did what he did for a very good reason. Percy had to find his memories on his own or it would've seriously ruined Queen Hera's plan. Thank you._"

Everyone put their weapons away and Sally and Paul came out from behind and sat down.

Nico then ran up to the new girl and hugged her. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Oh, Hazel, you're a life-saver!" He turned to Thalia and Annabeth with a tear in his eyes, "You know what, you guys? I wanted to tell him just as much as any of you. I love him **(totally just brotherly [cousinly?] love. PS I wrote this before reading HoH)** almost just as much as you, Annabeth, and would never put him in harms way and the both of you should know that! I did it for his safety!"

He let go of Hazel and sat in his chair with his head in his hands.

Sally went over to Nico and gave him a hug as Annabeth and Thalia sat there, stunned.

"It's okay, Nico. We know why you did it. We are all still feeling a bit depressed and protective over Percy even though he's not here. We know, Nico. It's all okay."

Nico smiled a little. "Thanks. You always know what to say."

Hazel looked up from her half-brother. She had a confused look on her face. "Um, what's going on?"

"We're reading a book about a guy we know named Percy Jackson." Nico explained.

The new boy looked at all of them. "Wait a minute. Percy has his own book?"

"Yeah. It's about his time at Camp Jupiter. You know him?" Annabeth asked. She had a hopeful glint in her eyes.

"Yeah." Hazel said. "He got to camp about a week ago."

Hazel's eyes then got really big as if she'd just noticed something. "Jason?" She squeaked.

"Yep. It's me Haze." Jason smiled. He remembered her now that she was here. She was fairly new to camp, but had already earned her first stripe. She was a good friend to him and seemed really nice and not dark for a daughter of Hades.

Hazel ran up to Jason and just about hugged the life out of him.

"Alright my peeps." Leo started. "Let me introduce my awesome self and then the rest of you people can." He pointed to the Greeks. "I'm Leo the Greatest Valdez." He gestured to himself "Son of Hephaestus! Woo!"

Piper whacked him on the head and he sat down. "I'm Piper Mclean. Daughter of Aphrodite."

"To those who don't know me—which all of you should because I rock—I'm Jason Grace, full brother of Thalia Grace, and Praetor of the Twelfth Legion." He smiled widely at his title.

"Former." Frank said under his breath. He didn't want to give away any valuable information.

"Thalia Grace, full sister of Jason Grace, daughter of Zeus, and Lieutenant of Artemis."

"Um, Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, and Ghost King." Nico said shyly.

Hazel spoke up. "But aren't you a Roman demigod?"

"Uh, about that." He started. "I'm actually a part-time resident at Camp Half-Blood, the Greek camp."

Both Hazel and Frank's jaw dropped.

To relieve the awkward tension from Nico, Annabeth stepped forward. "Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and Architect of Olympus."

If their mouths could open any farther, they did.

"Wow," Frank said. "No wonder he wouldn't shut up about you."

Hazel elbowed him in the gut. "Don't be rude!"

"I'm Paul. Step-father of Percy!" He said proudly.

"Sally. Perseus' mother."

Everyone snickered at Percy's real name, but said nothing.

"I'm Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto."

"Frank Zhang, son of Mars."

There were some shocked faces because they had never seen an Ares kid handle a bow and Clarisse had even said, 'Bows are for punks who can't fight'.

Leo broke the awkward silence. "Wait a second. That note said we're frozen in time, so…"

He and Nico ran to the window.

"Whoa! Guys you have _got_ to see this" Nico said excitedly.

We all sprinted to the nearest window.

Outside it looked like someone had taken a picture and projected it on the entire city.

Cars were stopped on the street, birds were frozen in the sky like gravity had suddenly shut off, and some random guy was stuck in a mid taxi-whistle.

Everyone's mouths were basically on the floor.

"This… is… AWESOME!" Leo shouted.

Sally was the first to recover from her shock of the immobile world outside.

She said, "Alright, dears. I'm going to make lunch, so I'll be right back."

With that, she left for the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Sally walked back in the living room holding a platter with one of her hands. On it was an assortment of sandwiches and fruits and other snackie items. In her other hand was a pitcher filled with a blue liquid.

"Here you go!" She set the platter and pitcher on coffee table and everyone dug in.

"Um, what's in the pitcher?" Hazel asked.

"Blue lemonade, honey," Sally answered.

Hazel shrugged, deciding not to question it, and poured herself a glass.

"So I was thinking—" Annabeth started, but Thalia butted in.

"When are you _not_ thinking?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes at Thalia's antics and continued.

"Anyway, before I was so rudely interrupted," She looked pointedly at Thalia, "I was trying to say that I was thinking that we should give you guys a little background info on the one and only Seaweed Brain."

The trio, the Romans, and Paul nodded hastily.

Jason really wanted to hear the tales of the legendary Percy Jackson. No one would speak to him about Percy without making some inside joke and walking away or tearing up. He also wanted to see if Percy really lived up to his title or if it was all a joke or made up.

Piper had basically the same thoughts as Jason. Since people around camp were so secretive, she had a hard time believing anyone about Percy's stories. Now she'd hear them from the people that'd actually been there and witnessed his actions up close and personal.

Leo was basically jumping up and down in his seat and he wasn't even on a sugar high (no one ever, _ever_ wanted to experience what that was like). Leo basically idolizes Percy and he doesn't even know what the heck he did. Now he would learn.

Paul hadn't heard a lot about Percy's adventuress because the _other_ part of their lives wasn't really spoken of in the house. He was looking forward to learning more about his stepson's crazy life.

Hazel and Frank had only got a brief overview of Percy's life from before Hera had abducted him and stolen his memories. From what they've heard, his life was pretty awesome, in a way.

"Please hold questions and applause until the end. So…" Annabeth continued on with the story of Percy's first quest.

When she was finally finished, she laughed at the comical expressions on most everyone's faces.

"And that's just the beginning," She smiled. She realized that talking and reading about him made her feel better. It made her feel like he was really there, cracking jokes or giving her his big, goofy grin that makes her heart go all mushy in her chest.

Jason was surprised of all the things Percy had done on his first quest and he was only _twelve_ at the time! He was beginning to think highly of him, but was still a little jealous._ I mean, who wouldn't be jealous of him? _ Jason thought. _He seemed to have everything. Loving parents, a sweet girlfriend, fantastic friends, awesome powers, girls wanting him left and right, and a whole lot more. Everyone seems to love him. Why couldn't I have that?_

Paul was astounded that Percy had to go through such hard times and at the age of _twelve_! He couldn't imagine what that must've been like. Paul was really proud of his stepson and hoped Percy was doing all right.

Leo was hastily scribbling on his paper and the others were looking over his shoulder and laughing at something he wrote.

Thalia clapped her hands loudly, snapping everyone out of his or her thoughts and to her.

She filled Hazel and Frank in on where they were in the book and asked, "So, who wants to read?"

Hazel held her hand out for the book. "I would like to."

She flipped to the correct page and began to read.


	7. Chapter 7-HAZEL

**Chapter 5-Hazel**

"Are you kidding me?" Hazel asked.

Nico gave a maniacal laugh and said deviously, "Now weget to hear_ all_ of your thoughts, Little Sista."

Hazel groaned, but continued reading.

**Hazel felt like she'd just introduced two nuclear bombs. Now she was waiting to see which one exploded first.**

Nico jumped up and down in his chair with his hand raised high in the air. "Pick me! Pick me! I want to explode first!"

He got some weird glances.

**Until that morning, her brother Nico had been the most powerful demigod she knew.**

A smug smile was etched onto Nico's face. "Ha!" He yelled jumping out of his chair. "I'd like to see you beat that, Thalia!"

Thalia jumped up, getting all up in Nico's face. "Oh yeah? I'd like to see you _try_ and beat me, or even Jason for that matter.

A spark flew off of Thalia's fingertips; she was getting really annoyed with Nico.

Sally and Paul looked out the window, but it was still as sunny as it was at the beginning of the chapter.

"Guys!" Annabeth shouted; she hated that the two of them always quarreled, "Stop fighting _this instant_! You're both equally powerful, okay? You can see who's better later."

"But you just said…" Thalia started, but decided not to fly in the face of Annabeth **(means: challenge, oppose, go against, and stuff like that)**,never mind."

Nico leaned over to Jason and whispered, "I am, _beyond doubt,_ more powerful than Thalia, but she'll just have to figure that out later. The hard way." Jason smirked; not because he thought Thalia was going to get her rear-end handed to her by someone younger than her, but because he knew that Thalia would _kill_ Nico later (not literally, of course).

**The others at Camp Jupiter saw him as a travelling oddball, about as harmless as the fauns.**

"Hey!" Nico protested. "I am _not_ harmless!"

No one bothered to side with him.

**Hazel knew better. **

Nico grinned. "Thanks, Haze."

**She hadn't grown up with Nico, hadn't even known him very long. But she knew Nico was more dangerous than Reyna, or Octavian, or maybe even Jason.**

Nico's grin broadened.

Jason looked a little hurt.

**Then she'd met Percy.**

It was Annabeth's turn to laugh. "You thought… you thought you were better than Percy? Ha! Dream on!"

**At first, when she saw him stumbling up the highway with the old lady in his arms, Hazel had thought he might be a god in disguise.** **Even though he was beat up, dirty, and stooped with exhaustion, he'd had an aura of power. He had the good looks of a Roman god, with sea-green eyes and windblown black hair.**

"Wow," Piper breathed.

Jason felt a pang of jealousy. No, scratch that. A bombardment of jealousy. How could this guy, who she doesn't even _know_, make her fall so easily? Jason had to work hard to keep that girl pleased (it was all worth it though) and then here comes this Percy dude with a sentence (not even a _picture_) and she swoons over him.

Piper noticed the look of ire on his face and immediately grabbed his hand and squeezed it. She gave him a sincere smile that said '_don't worry, I'll never let you go_'.

Jason smiled widely and calmed down a bit, but was so lost in his thoughts that he jumped when Leo said, "Holy-_freaking_-frijoles. He really looks like that? I think I've got a dude crush."

We all looked at him oddly, but he just shrugged.

**She'd ordered Frank not to fire on, him. She thought the gods might be testing them. She'd heard myths like that: a kid with an old lady begs for shelter, and when the rude mortals refuse—****_boom, _****they get turned into banana slugs.**

"Ariolimax." Annabeth said dreamily. After noticing everyone's stares, she explained, "I don't know why but I really love the color." **(*Gag* yuck)**

**Then Percy had controlled the river and destroyed the gorgons. He'd turned a pen into a bronze sword. He'd stirred up the whole camp with talk about the ****_graecus._**

"That's Perce for you." Thalia shrugged.

**A son of the sea god...**

**Long ago, Hazel had been told that a descendant of Neptune would save her. But could Percy really take away her curse? **

"Curse?" Annabeth asked.

"I'm sure you'll find out soon."

**It seemed too much to hope for.**

**Percy and Nico shook hands. They studied each other warily, and Hazel fought the urge to run. If these two busted out the magic swords, things could get ugly.**

Frank snorted. "No, not really. They'd probably just destroy the whole city."

**Nico didn't appear scary. He was skinny and sloppy in his rumpled black clothes. His hair, as always, looked like he'd just rolled out of bed.**

"Hey!" Nico protested. "I work really hard to make my hair look like this!"

**Hazel remembered when she'd met him. The first time she'd seen him draw that black sword of his, she'd almost laughed. The way he called it "Stygian iron," all serious-like—he'd looked ridiculous.**

"Thanks, Hazel. I'm feeling the love."

**This scrawny white boy was no fighter.** **She certainly hadn't believed they were related.**

**She had changed her mind about that quick enough.**

**Percy scowled. "I—I know you."**

"Yes, you do!" Annabeth yelled. She was getting frustrated. It seemed like his memories were _there_, but they were on the tip of his tongue, so to speak.

**Nico raised his eyebrows. "Do you?" He looked at Hazel for explanation.**

**Hazel hesitated. Something about her brother's reaction wasn't right. He was trying hard to act casual, but when he had first seen Percy, Hazel had noticed his momentary look of panic. Nico already knew Percy. She was sure of it. Why was he pretending otherwise?**

"To basically save the world by making sure that the two camps trust each other," Nico shrugged, "No biggie."

**Hazel forced herself to speak. "Um…Percy's lost his memory." She told her brother what had happened since Percy had arrived at the gates.**

"**So, Nico…" she continued carefully, "I thought…you know, you travel all over. Maybe you've met demigods like Percy before, or..."**

"Yes, he has," Annabeth glared at Nico, but then remembered why he did it and gave him an apologetic look.

**Nico's expression turned as dark as Tartarus. Hazel didn't understand why, but she got the message: ****_Drop it._**

"**This story about Gaea's army," Nico said. "You warned Reyna?"**

**Percy nodded. "Who is Gaea, anyway?"**

"Isn't she the earth goddess?" Paul guessed.

Everyone nodded.

"So… let me get this straight." Paul said, trying to understand everything, "Mother Earth… is _evil_?"

Jason shook his head, "You have no idea."

**Hazel's mouth went dry. Just hearing that name…It was all she could do to keep her knees from buckling. She remembered a woman's soft sleepy voice, a glowing cave, and feeling her lungs fill with black oil.**

Everyone, save Nico and Frank, gave her questioning glances.

Hazel sighed. She'd have to read about everything that had happened to her on the quest, including her blackouts/flashbacks. She was not prepared to share all of this information with people she'd just met, but, if Percy could trust them, she could trust them, too.

"**She's the earth goddess." Nico glanced at the ground as if it might be listening. "The oldest goddess of all. She's in a deep sleep most of the time, but she hates the gods and their children."**

"**Mother Earth…is evil?" Percy asked.**

Leo wagged his finger. "Oh, my dear Percy. Have you learned nothing? It's rude to copy people."

"**Very," Nico said gravely.** **"She convinced her son, the Titan Kronos—um, I mean, Saturn—to kill his dad, Uranus, and take over the world. The Titans ruled for a long time. Then the Titans' children, the Olympian gods, overthrew them."**

"Thank goodness for that," Thalia said, "Otherwise I wouldn't be as awesome as I am now."

"Oh, shut up, Pinecone Face. We all know that I'm _way_ awesomer than you are." Nico said getting up from his chair.

Thalia stood up too, but instead of zapping him, punching him in the face, or telling him off, she ran up to him and gave him a hug that could probably suffocate a bear.

Nico let out a strangled yell. "Aghh! Thalia! Get… off me! This is classified as cruel and unusual torture!"

"Guys! SHUT UP!" Annabeth yelled. "First of all, you're both wrong. _I _am the most awesome. Second, Nico, 'awesomer' isn't a word. And third, Nico, I believe the expression is 'cruel and unusual _punishment_' not torture."

Nico's face reddened considerably. He pushed Thalia off of him, sat down and pulled his knees to his chest, trying to hide his blush.

"**That story seems familiar," Percy sounded surprised, like an old memory had partially surfaced. "But I don't think I ever heard the part about Gaea."**

**Nico shrugged. "She got mad when the gods took over. She took a new husband— Tartarus, the spirit of the abyss—and gave birth to a race of giants. They tried to destroy Mount Olympus, but the gods finally beat them. At least…the first time."**

"**The first time?" Percy repeated.**

**Nico glanced at Hazel. He probably wasn't meaning to make her feel guilty, but she couldn't help it. If Percy knew the truth about her, and the horrible things she'd done…**

"He'd still stick with you to the end. Loyalty's his fatal flaw, after all." Annabeth finished for Book-Hazel.

"**Last summer," Nico continued, "Saturn tried to make a comeback. There was a second Titan war. The Romans at** **Camp Jupiter stormed his headquarters on Mount Othrys, across the bay, and destroyed his throne. **

"Woop woop!" Jason and Hazel yelled at the same time.

**Saturn disappeared—"**

The demigods that participated in the Second Titan War stared open-mouthed at the book.

Annabeth was the first to speak up. "_Disappeared_? _Excuse_ me? We worked our butts off and many lost their lives; and here you are saying that he _disappeared_?"

Nico got up, sat by her, and then put an arm around her shoulder. "I had to, Annabeth. Well… unless you basically wanted the world to end, that is."

**He hesitated, watching Percy's face. Hazel got the feeling her brother was nervous that more of Percy's memory might come back.**

"**Um, anyway," Nico continued, "Saturn probably faded back to the abyss. We all thought the war was over. Now it looks like the Titans' defeat stirred up Gaea. She's starting to wake. I've heard reports of giants being reborn. If they mean to challenge the gods again, they'll probably start by destroying the demigods.…"**

"Jolly good news, mate!" Jason said in a poorly attempted British accent.

Sally and Paul were a little shocked at the way the demigods were so casual when talking about the possible doomsday ahead of them.

_Eh, they're probably just freaking out on the inside,_ Paul thought. _I know I would be. Actually, I'd just be freaking out in general._

"**You've told Reyna this?" Percy asked.**

"**Of course." Nico's jaw tensed. "The Romans don't trust me. That's why I was hoping she'd listen to you. Children of Pluto…well, no offense, but they think we're even worse than children of Neptune. We're bad luck."**

"Thanks, Nico. I'm feeling the love." Hazel mimicked in a totally un-Nico-ish voice.

"**They let Hazel stay here," Percy noted.**

"**That's different," Nico said.**

"Why?" Thalia asked.

"I'm sure you'll find out soon."

"**Why?"**

Thalia clutched her head and groaned in mock-pain. "I'm going to die. I'm going to die." She fell off of her chair and feigned death.

"I'm dead," She whispered.

Everyone started cracking up.

She opened one of her eyes. "Oh, so now you guys like my pain? What kind of friends are you?"

"Amazing, wonderful, awesome friends!"

"That was a rhetorical question, Repair Boy."

"That's Supreme Commander off the Argo 2 to you, Beauty Queen."

"**Percy," Hazel cut in, "look, the giants aren't the worst problem. Even ... even ****_Gaea _****isn't the worst problem.**

"Hazel?" Leo asked. "Are you completely _out of your mind_?"

**The thing you noticed about the gorgons, how they wouldn't die, ****_that's _****our biggest worry."**

Leo looked embarrassed. "Good point."

**She looked at Nico. She was getting dangerously close to her own secret now,** **but for some reason Hazel trusted Percy.**

"Who _doesn't _trust Percy? He like, tells you that you can trust him without telling you." Nico said.

"That's make no sense, Nico," Frank told him.

**Maybe because he was also an outsider, maybe because he'd saved Frank at the river. He deserved to know what they were facing.**

"**Nico and I," she said carefully, "we think that what's happening is…Death isn't—"**

**Before she could finish, a shout came from down the hill.**

"Oh, come on!" Paul protested. "No one ever lets anyone finish their sentences! It's driving me crazy!"

**Frank jogged toward them, wearing his jeans, purple camp shirt, and denim jacket. His hands were covered with grease from cleaning weapons.**

**As it did every time she saw Frank, Hazel's heart performed a little skip-beat tap-dance—which ****_really _****irritated her. Sure, he was a good friend—one of the only people at camp who didn't treat her as if she had a contagious disease. But she didn't like him in ****_that _****way.**

By the end of this paragraph, Hazel's cheeks were so red that Piper was afraid she'd turn into a giant cherry, almost like that girl on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

**He was three years older than she was, and he wasn't exactly Prince Charming, with that strange combination of baby face and bulky wrestler's body. He looked like a cuddly koala bear with muscles. The fact that everyone always tried to pair them, up—****_the two biggest losers at camp! You guys are perfect for each other_****—just made Hazel more determined not to like him.**

"Thanks, Hazel," Frank said.

"Oh, you know you love me," Hazel smiled.

"Yes, yes I do."

**But her heart wasn't with the program. It went nuts whenever Frank was around. She hadn't felt like that since ... well, since Sammy.**

Leo waggled his eyebrows. "Ooh, who's this Sammy kid?"

Hazel looked extremely uncomfortable and kind of… sad?

"Oh, uh, sorry."

**Stop it, she thought. You're here for one reason—and it isn't to get a new boyfriend.**

**Besides, Frank didn't know her secret. If he knew, he wouldn't be so nice to her.**

"Look how well that turned out," Frank commented.

**He reached the shrine. "Hey, Nico…"**

"**Frank." Nico smiled. He seemed to find Frank amusing, maybe because Frank was the only one at camp who wasn't uneasy around the children of Pluto.**

"**Reyna sent me to get Percy," Frank said. "Did Octavian accept you?"**

"**Yeah," Percy said. "He slaughtered my panda."**

"Well, when you put it that way…" Jason said

"**He…Oh. The augury? Yeah, teddy bears must have nightmares about that guy.** **But you're in! We need to get you cleaned up before evening muster."**

Thalia snorted. "You think?"

**Hazel realized the sun was getting low over the hills. How had the day gone so fast? "You're right," she said. "We'd better—"**

"**Frank," Nico interrupted, "why don't you take Percy down? Hazel and I will be along soon."**

"That's not a good sign. Talking with your creepy brother one-on-one." Leo shuddered.

"Hey!" Nico protested. "I'm not creepy!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Nicky," Thalia said.

**Uh-oh, Hazel thought. She tried not to look anxious.**

"**That's—that's a good idea," she managed. "Go ahead, guys. We'll catch up."**

**Percy looked at Nico one more time, as though he was still trying to place a memory. "I'd like to talk with you some more. I can't shake the feeling—"**

"Well, since you basically rescued him, that's seems like

"**Sure," Nico agreed. "Later. I'll be staying overnight."**

"**You will?" Hazel blurted. The campers were going to love that—the son of Neptune and the son of Pluto arriving on the same day. Now all they needed was some black cats and broken mirrors.**

"I can arrange that!" Leo shouted. "Well… actually I can't because the book is in the past and… yeah."

"**Go on, Percy," Nico said. "Settle in."** **He turned to Hazel, and she got the sense that the worst part of her day was yet to come. "My sister and I need to talk."**

"**You know him, don't you," Hazel said.**

"Yes, yes he does."

"I know that now!"

**They sat on the roof of Pluto's shrine, which was covered with bones and diamonds. As far as Hazel knew, the bones had always been there. The diamonds were her fault. If she sat anywhere too long, or just got anxious, they started popping up all around her like mushrooms after a rain. Several million dollars' worth of stones glittered on the roof, **

Jason stared at Hazel. He wasn't sure he knew about Hazel's 'ability', but he was sure that it was pretty freaking awesome. "Hazel? That's pretty sick. You know that, right?"

"No, It's not. You'll see why later."

**but fortunately the other campers wouldn't touch them. They knew better than to steal from temples—especially Pluto's—and the fauns never came up here.**

**Hazel shuddered, remembering her close call with Don that afternoon. If she hadn't moved quickly and snatched that diamond off the road…She didn't want to think about it. She didn't need another death on her conscience.**

Everyone was extremely confused.

Annabeth's brain was working on overtime. What does death have to do with jewels? Do the jewels cause death? Maybe they're cursed? She looked at Hazel. That sweet, care-free girl doesn't seem like there's a curse weighing on her.

**Nico swung his feet like a little kid. His Stygian iron sword lay by his side, next to Hazel's ****_spatha. _****He gazed across the valley, where construction crews were working in the Field of Mars, building fortifications for tonight's games.**

"**Percy Jackson." He said the name like an incantation.**

There were some snickers from the group.

"**Hazel, I have to be careful what I say. Important things are at work here. Some secrets need to stay secret. You of all people—you should understand that."**

**Hazel's cheeks felt hot. "But he's not like…like me?"**

"**No," Nico said. "I'm sorry I can't tell you more. I can't interfere. Percy has to find his own way at this camp."**

"**Is he dangerous?" she asked.**

"Very." Everyone but the trio said. They all burst out laughing.

Jason wanted really badly to duel Percy. He wanted to prove himself, sort of like initiation. He didn't hate Percy Jackson, but he felt like the two of them were always being compared. That's what he hated. He wanted to be one-of-a-kind

**Nico managed a dry smile. "Very. To his enemies. But he's not a threat to Camp Jupiter. You can trust him."**

"**Like I trust you," Hazel said bitterly.**

**Nico twisted his skull ring. Around him, bones began to quiver as if they were trying to form a new skeleton. Whenever he got moody, Nico had that effect on the dead, kind of like Hazel's curse.**

_So it_ is_ a curse_, Annabeth thought, while everyone looked at Hazel like: '_What the heck?_'

**Between them, they represented Pluto's two spheres of control: death and riches. Sometimes Hazel thought Nico had gotten the better end of the deal.**

"Why's that?" Jason asked.

"You'll see."

"I hate that answer."

Piper gave him a kiss on the cheek. "It's okay, Sparky. We all do, too."

"**Look, I know this is hard," Nico said.** "**But you have a second chance. You can make things right."**

"**Nothing about this is right," Hazel said. "If they find out the truth about me—"**

"**They won't," Nico promised. "They'll call a quest soon. They have to. You'll make me proud. Trust me, Bi—"**

Nico, Annabeth, and Thalia flinched, remembering what had happened to Nico's sister on their quest to save Artemis.

**He caught himself, but Hazel knew what he'd almost called her: ****_Bianca. _****Nico's ****_real _****sister—the one he'd grown up with. Nico might care about Hazel, but she'd never be Bianca. Hazel was the simply the next best thing Nico could manage—a consolation prize from the Underworld.**

"No, Haze," Nico reassured her. "It's not like that. It never _was_ like that. I love you and care for you just as much as I did Bianca. You might as well get used to it because I'm your brother and there isn't anything you can do to get rid of me."

Hazel smiled as she felt the genuine honesty and love rolling off Nico's words.

"**I'm sorry," he said.**

**Hazel's mouth tasted like metal, as if gold nuggets were popping up under her tongue. "Then it's true about Death? Is Alcyoneus to blame?"**

"**I think so," Nico said. "It's getting bad in the Underworld. Dad's going crazy trying to keep things under control.** **From what Percy said about the gorgons, things are getting worse up here, too. But look, that's why you're here. All that stuff in your past—you can make something ****_good_**** come out of it. You belong at Camp Jupiter."**

Everyone was nodding at that statement.

**That sounded so ridiculous, Hazel almost laughed. She didn't belong in this place. She didn't even belong in this century.**

Cue quizzical looks at Hazel.

**She should have known better than to focus on the past, but she remembered the day when her old life had been shattered.** **The blackout hit her so suddenly,** **she didn't even have time to say, ****_Uh-oh_****. **

"Blackout?" Annabeth asked.

Hazel continued reading, not even glancing up from the book.

Annabeth concluded that they probably weren't the most pleasant from the look on Hazel's face.

**She shifted back in time. Not a dream or a vision. The memory washed over her with such perfect clarity, she felt she was actually there.**

**Her most recent birthday. She'd just turned thirteen. But not ****_last _****December— December 17, 1941, the last day she had lived in New Orleans.**

"Wha…?" Leo asked.

Hazel sighed and passed the book to Frank.

He didn't protest because he knew that this next chapter was going to be a little tough for Hazel. He was just glad that the blackouts were over and that reading about them wouldn't trigger another one… or would they? Nah, they wouldn't.

Before the confused people in the room could let out a single question, Frank began the next chapter.


End file.
